6th Division: Redemption
by Satashi
Summary: Book III After the defeat of Jail, a new force comes seeking to destroy the people who are a threat to their plans. If the relics and Jewel Seeds are powerful enough on their own to cause so much damage... How do you fight the people who created them?
1. Chapter 1

I smiled to myself as I hummed along to one of my favorite songs being played on the radio. I was in a really good mood today since most of my schedule was put off thanks to some higher ups coming and giving the base a one-over to make sure we were all on the top of our jobs. My training field was the first to be inspected and I was given high marks for my teaching methods as well as the level of improvement that my forwards were showing. Tia managed to hover a few inches off the ground for almost a minute and that really earned me some brownie points because she was only a B-ranked mage. Caro and Lutecia's summons also earned me high praise, as well as Subaru's ability to break through barriers and handle close-combat. Elio, amazingly, easily summoned armor both from Lutecia and Caro and when inspected his magical powers had gone almost to double-A standards. Fortunately the investigator didn't know of the massive drain it put on the girls so all-in-all I was almost guaranteed to win the "Teacher of the Year" award coming up in the winter months we were now facing. A small beeping sound made me jog back into the kitchen and pull out the racks of cookies from the oven. Now that I had dessert out and cooling I checked the rest of the dinner and noticed in satisfaction that by the time the carry-over heat was finished cooking Fate would be home. On that note I still had a while to kill so I grabbed a hot cookie and nibbled it carefully while walking around the wall and to the stairs leading to our bedroom. Kneeling down I reached under the bed and pulled out my violin case and opened the latches with two small clicking sounds. The polished instrument greeted me with a shine and I couldn't help but grin at the memory of my two best friends on Earth giving it to me as a congratulations on getting engaged.

**6th Mobile Division: Redemption **

**By:**

**Satashi**

Fate looked at the approaching door with a feeling of relief. '_finally,_' She thought to herself as she walked to her home.'_Talk about a stressful day. Every single piece of my subordinates, direct or indirect, were given hell and I had to take responsibility for it._' The passage into her loft was revealed and as she stepped through the door, a mouth watering scent hitting her nose. Along with the treat of smelling dinner waiting on her, a very happy and upbeat song was being played on Nanoha's violin. Without a word she took her shoes off, lined them up beside the door, and straightened Nanoha's carelessly discarded boots. Her partner was currently wearing her white long sleeve button up shirt that only had the middle buttons done as well as her blue instructor skirt. With a content grin Fate crossed her arms and leaned against the door frame, happy at the chance to watch Nanoha act a fool. She was skipping around the living room, sliding on her socks, while playing her violin in the most carefree manor. Eyes closed, she easily danced around the furniture as she twirled, slashing her bow across the strings quickly to create the peppy song. Not noticing Fate yet, she started to sing out:

"Well before you know it she is born, she's looking up through painted bars, and she hears a hairy stranger say "She'll learn to play the violin!" Her mother's voice is high and sweet, she's got her chin and rosy cheeks, and before this birdy leaves the nest she'll learn to play the violin!" Dancing around again, Nanoha laughed happily, dipping down and leaning back all while keeping up the fast paced song. "Now her baby shoes are obsolete, she's growing like an ivy-weed, and every day she hears her father say "She'll play the violin!" Her mother and Fate won't interfere, they'll give me room, Let me steer, but they won't be happy 'til they hear me learn to play the fiddle!" Turning around once more she opened her eyes and laughed again, only stopping when she noticed that Fate was watching her. With a dark blush she slowed down and offered her room mate an embarrassed smile. "Nya haha... I guess I got carried away..."

"I don't recall my name being in that song," She teased her as she walked into the house fully. "I'm sorry I'm so late coming home today." Fate made her way into the kitchen and looked at the different pots and pans littering the stove and counter tops. "I see you made dinner?" A happy hum confirmed the obvious question while she observed the dishes. "Wow, roast chicken and veggies! Did you make the smashed potatoes from scratch?" She felt Nanoha's arms wrap around her waist and a small nod. "I'm impressed. A salad too! Wow, you went all out, you never cut things for salad." Her eyes trailed more. "Even made croissants." Fate put her hands on top of her fiancé's. "Nanoha, have I told you lately that I love you?"

"The way to a girl's heart really is through her stomach, huh?" She teased, poking Fate's side and getting a small giggle. "You always cook for me so I thought I'd return the favor since I had time off. It won't be as good as yours but I tried really hard."

"I'm sure it's lovely," The blond reached up to get some plates down while Nanoha still held onto her. "...Wait a tic, did you just say you had time off?"

"Mm," She took the offered plate after finally letting go of her. "The people inspecting interrupted everyone's flow so after about half the day my schedule was more or less canceled so I gave the forwards their last training session off and told them to do a few laps before calling it a day. Why, did your day not go so easy? Didn't get in trouble or anything did you?" Nanoha started loading her plate while waiting for her lover to answer. After they both sat down Fate finally sighed out and started talking.

"It was hard. Since I am head enforcer I am more or less responsible for everyone's mistakes. I should keep a tighter leash on them or something, they found girly magazines in the break room and one of the office floors wasn't really clean. Although I didn't get punished or reprimed for it, I was still scolded for allowing the people under me to work in such a loose environment. For now on I'm going to have to check on them personally once a week or so. As if my schedule wasn't already packed enough as it is..."

"Sorry I can't help, since Yuuno-kun started looking around for more people to train, I'm going to have my hands full." She started eating her dinner while thinking it over. "Starting next month the normal rooms on the second and third floors are going to be filled with people for a kind of boot camp for the police forces around here. They will use my training field three times a day while I'm not on it, but I'm still going to have to check on them every now and then to be sure it's going as planned. Although they rank as F, D, and the occasional C Mages they still need to be trained properly to protect the people of the city... Maybe I should help the new teachers until they are used to things here..."

Fate drank a small sip of wine and smiled. "Section Six sure has come a long way in just a year, huh? Remember our first day? The only rooms taken were ours, three forwards, and Hayate's. Everyone else had rooms on the rest of the base and just commute to our section. Now half the forward rooms are full and all of the regular rooms will be jam packed as well... and we're just about in charge of it all... Wow, I never sat and thought about it..."

"Our mothers must be really proud." Nanoha laughed at the situation. "Well, my parents really don't understand exactly what we do but they can at least appreciate my rank compared to the Earth ones. Oh! Speaking of, I don't want to go years without seeing them again so I'm thinking of requesting an Earth leave for a day or so every few months, or maybe if I'm lucky I can bring them here. They've wanted to see another planet for years..." She took a large mouthful of her salad and chewed it happily. "Do you think Hayate can get permission for inter-planet communication and passports?"

"That's a mighty large request, you know non-administrated planet transportation is highly frowned upon. If it wasn't for his military background and our support, Kuhn wouldn't be able to transport from Earth." Seeing Nanoha's face fall she quickly changed her tone. "But you never know! Maybe we can pull something, after all Mom still has the apartment there and uses it as a summer home... Come to think of it, it's summertime on Earth right now isn't it? Since it's winter here."

Nanoha thought. "Well Midchilda has longer seasons than Earth sooo... Well, yes, actually. I think it should be dead-middle of summer time there."

"Hmmm..." Fate leaned back in her chair, happily content and full. "Very lovely dinner, Nanoha." She smiled at the cute giggle she got in reply. Her eyes turned to the window and looked out at the dark night sky. "The days are shorter lately, and it's been so peaceful. Illegal logia trading has slowed down to a crawl after Jail's death spread around and the few Relics we have come across have been easily obtained... Say, Nanoha? Wouldn't now be a good time to rank-up? All of us, the forwards too." Nanoha put her hand to her chin in thought to the question. "Lutecia needs to be classified officially anyway since she joined the team; her record is completely blank now. I think they're ready, what do you say?"

The brown haired girl smiled to herself. "Yeah, they're ready. I'll talk to them about it tomorrow, could you handle the preparations for me, Captain Fate?" She saluted playfully. "We can take ours after they do, if it's okay?"

"Sure thing, sweetheart." She covered an amused smile. "But don't salute with your fork in your hands." Nanoha yelped out and quickly placed it on her plate, blushing darkly. "Hehe, you never change."

* * *

"Rank up?" Subaru repeated the words to herself to get a taste for them. Her eyes trailed over to Tia's which were looking at her as well. "Tia and I took the test for B-rank not too long ago and we originally failed... Wouldn't it be best if we waited a while more before trying at a higher rank?" She had completely forgotten that the time for the optional test were coming up again. "How long would we have to prepare?"

"A month," Nanoha informed them. She looked around the peaceful forest area training ground they were in and smiled at the serenity of it. Despite having just suffered from a large scale mock battle the area still made her feel at ease thanks to the cool air and sun shining down to warm them up from it. "I won't force anyone to take the test except for Lutecia." The woman looked down at the surprised purple haired girl. "You have to be officially ranked; don't worry it will be simple for you, anything over an A rank is a mock battle one on one with a higher ranked mage. You might even fight me or Fate, so be sure to use everything at your disposal okay?" She got a curt nod that quickly changed to a salute. "You'll get used to the private rank soon too." Nanoha giggled a moment before popping her fist onto her palm in realization. "Oh yeah, whoever ranks up mage-wise will also be promoted military-wise as well. This will increase your pay also, so it's something to really consider."

"Mommy," Caro raised her hand a little to get attention. "Are you going to take the test as well?" The question made everyone turn to their instructor expectingly.

"Mm," She nodded. "Fate and I are going to try for SS-rank. It's been almost three years since we became S-rank so I think we will have improved enough to pass. My phase shifting has been classified as a rare-ability so that's an edge already. Caro-chan, your summons will also aid you, and Elio you armor will also give you a boost. Tia you can already hover so your magical power alone will almost be enough to get you ranked. Subaru, you have some of the best fighting skills I've seen so you too are close. Don't let it get to your head, though, you'll still need to prepare extra hard for this."

Lutecia spoke up softly, making Nanoha turn to listen to her. "What rank should I apply for?" She had a rare ability summon already, as well as short/long range single/mass teleportation. Even without her insects she held her own against both Tia and Subaru during the mock battle as well. "A? Double A?"

The teacher thought it over. "Well your rare abilities may push you to triple-A, but you don't have the magical energy to support it, and you're still inexperienced despite everything you've gone through. I'd recommend trying for AA for now and maybe going for Triple-A next year or the year after."

Tia sighed at the information. '_And here I was, thinking I'm the leader of this small group when the teachers aren't around and Lutecia blows me right out of the water..._' She gripped her pistol tightly while everyone started talking about the tests. Nanoha dismissed their first training session of the day but she still stayed where she was. Standing silently, she glared at the ground in her own frustration. '_ I have to become more powerful... First Subaru and then Elio and now Lutecia... all of them can do things I can't. If Nanoha-san is correct and I really do hold a bunch of latent magical power, what can I do to release it? I'm not using twenty percent of Cross Mirage's capability, there has to be something!'_ She heard her name being called, making her look up and around, realizing for the first time that she should have left already. Nanoha was in front of her, leaned over slightly to match their eye level. Her teacher smiled inquisitively, making Tia blush. "Oh... Sorry, my mind wandered off..."

"Something is troubling you," Nanoha spoke her mind easily. "I can tell, you always furrow your brow when you're upset. Do you want to talk about it? It's about the test isn't it?"

"Not entirely..." The girl let out a small sigh. "I just feel that lately... I've become a burden to everyone. During the Skeith incident I couldn't even enter the battle field... Against Jail I couldn't even fight... In times of emergency I was always being protected... Is there nothing I can do?" She looked up at Nanoha, clearly upset at herself. "Nanoha-san! We have the same position! I try as hard as I can! Why is it you can do everything and I can't!? Is it your power? Am I really that weak!?"

Nanoha softened at the outbreak rather than looked surprised at it. "Tia," Her words were gentle, placing a hand onto the girl's shoulder. "It's not true that everyone starts out the same. I was gifted with my power, that's all. I tried as hard as I could during my missions and my trainings, often sleeping for only three hours a night for months on end. Although I started very high and pushed myself to my limits countless times, I only increased my rank once. Nine years, Tia, I've been doing this for nine long years. It isn't about your mage rank, it's about yourself. How you handle a battle, how you think, how you react, how you feel. All of that makes a great warrior, a 'Striker'. You know that term don't you?" The gunslinger shook her head softly so she went into detail. "A Striker is someone who is always depended upon, someone who can turn the tide on a hopeless war, someone who can make even the most depressed and scared warrior fight at their full potential. Someone who starts out just like you, always wanting more, always seeking to protect others, always trying their best."

Tia met Nanoha's eyes again. "Me?" She asked, unsure of herself. "But I don't have a rare ability, nor can I do many other things. I have my illusion magic but it's just 'uncommon' not 'rare'. Could someone like me really be a Striker?"

"Do you _want_ to be one, Tia?"

"...Yes." Tia nodded to herself. "I just need guidance... I need someone to show me the way, so I won't lose myself." Her hands tightened around her gun. "I want Cross Mirage to appreciate me the way I do him." She looked up at Nanoha with a fierce determination. "I want _them_ to look up at me, to see me as a leader! I want to become strong! Strong enough to be able to adapt to the situation, just like you said!"

Nanoha smiled. "Do you know my nickname? The one that I like?

"...No?"

"Multi-weapon." Nanoha reached down to Tia's hand and lifted it up with Cross Mirage. "May I?" She got a small nod and found the fingers releasing. "Thank you." Looking at the handgun, she gave it a greeting. "Hello, Cross Mirage, may I use you as an example?" Despite having the required authority to release it's power she asked anyway to be polite to the AI that wasn't hers. After getting a confirmation she held it out at arm's length. "Stage one: Pistol." She shot a tree across from them. "Stage two: Dual Pistol." Another gun formed in her off-hand and she shot the tree a few times with each one. "Stage three:" Tia gasped at the new version she didn't know about. "Shotgun." Putting the weapons end to end they started to glow a moment before reshaping into a new type of gun. "Best for short-range combat. The farther away the enemy is, the less damage it will do." To prove the point she shot towards the tree far off and blasted off several chunks of bark from it. Turning, she aimed at a tree close to them and fired again, this time ripping it in half and making it fall over.

"Wow!"

"Stage four," Nanoha went on. "Sniper rifle." The weapon once again shifted shape, forming a long range gun with a scope. "Once you become skilled in this, you can shoot anything from as far away as you need to be. The stronger your magical power is, the farther away you can shoot. Stage five: power shot." Cross mirage turned back into it's normal pistol form, only this time the colors were black and red. "Here, Tia. You need to fire this." She placed the gun into her student's hands. "Grip it with both hands, hold it firm." She stood behind her and put her hands on top of Tia's. "This will kick you back hard, as if you just just got hit by Subaru's Divine Buster, so brace for it." She looked down and saw Tia's stance shift. "Aim toward the sky. Good. Prepare and fire."

Tia swallowed, double checking her footing, and pulled the trigger. The immediate force was so overwhelming it would have forced her to her knees if Nanoha hadn't been supporting her. Large amounts of energy ripped from the barrel, spreading out into a large wide-range area. Constantly magic poured into the device, flaring out smaller blast that circled the main one. When the orange magical beam hit the top of the barrier it only paused for a few seconds before ripping straight through it and into the sky. Once done Tia fell to her knees and panted out heavily, sweat covering her body. "I..." She panted, shocked. "Wow..." Looking up, she gave Nanoha an amazed look. "So strong... I feel as if everything in me was sucked out at once."

"I'm sure you understand that this mode isn't meant to be used and that's why it was locked from you?" Nanoha sat down next to her student while she recovered. "I will teach you how to become a multiple weapon user like myself if you want. Before you answer I want to explain things to you. It isn't easy, and if you are not proficient at a weapon it doesn't matter how strong it is because you won't hit anything with it. I'm sure you noticed this the first time you shot left-handed?" Tia moved to sit properly and reflected back, nodding. "This is also not always a good thing. A multi weapon isn't something that is ultra powerful, that comes from your personal magic. This will make you adaptable and more efficient, not stronger. A 'Jack of all trades, master of none' type of deal. Weither or not you become a one hundred percent sharp shooter with dual pistols or a seventy percent accuracy multi-user doesn't matter. Cross Mirage will be used to it's full capacity either way, adapting to your style. If you become a master of a certain style while still using others depends on how much you will commit yourself."

"I see... And you will teach me if I decide to do this?" Nanoha nodded at her. "I need time to think about it..." She gazed at the new form of her trusted partner. "Can I answer you later?"

"Whenever you're ready. Now come on," Standing, she offered Tia a hand. "I'm going to be late for my kick boxing lessons if I don't run off. You need to get some food and rest up." The gunslinger took the offered hand and smiled when she was lifted up to her feet. "Think about it and answer me whenever you want, don't rush it. Right now let's focus on the upcoming mage test and go from there."

* * *

A woman with deep red hair pulled up into a sharp ponytail walked briskly across the grounds of the military base. With two fingers she adjusted her thin red lined glasses properly onto her nose and made her way into the main office building of section six. With a quick look she spotted the main desk on the bottom floor and moved toward it. Loud clicking sounds echoed as she walked, getting several people's attention onto her. Once at her destination she glared at the secretary there and spoke to her in an official toned voice. "Hello, I need to speak with Hayate Yagami or one of the two mages recently involved with the death of Jail Scaglietti: Nanoha Takamachi or Fate Harlaown."

"I'm sorry, ma'am," The secretary apologized with a light bow of her head. "Hayate-sama is currently busy and Fate-sama is making her rounds right now. If you would like to schedule an appointment I can-"

"I don't have time for games," The woman interrupted her coldly. "I have urgent business to discuss with them and do not like to be kept waiting. Where is Takamachi?"

"Ma'am, she isn't under our department so-"

"Then find one of them and get them here now." She slapped her hand onto the desk, making the secretary jump lightly in her chair.

A new voice came up, making both of them turn to see Yuuno approaching them. "Is there a problem here?" He wondered, eying the woman. The secretary started to give information about the situation but was once more cut off by the red haired lady.

"I need to see Yagami, Harlaown, or Takamachi right away, could you be of any more assistance than this woman here?" She jerked her thumb towards the secretary.

"It is rather rude to ask for favors when one has not first introduced themselves, is it not?" Yuuno replied smoothly, leaning against the counter and clasping his hands together casually.

The woman seemed a little miffed at the casual appearance but introduced herself anyway. "Tribeca. My last name isn't important; and you are?"

"Yuuno Scrya. I see you've met Allison already." He nodded towards the secretary. "Unfortunately all three of them are busy at the current moment, if I can assist you with anything I would be more than happy too..." His voice trailed off when Tribeca reached into her hand bag and pulled out a folder to start flipping through it.

The woman read a little bit on the page and snapped the folder shut. "You are Yuuno Scrya of the Scrya clan, chief of infinite library, and civilian collaborator of Mobile Division Section Six?" She eyed him harshly as the man slowly nodded, confused. "Then this trip wasn't a total loss. I was also asked to offer you a job for us regardless if the unison request was accepted or not." She offered her hand, suddenly showing respect for the male. "My superior request that you come back with me for full details on the matter. In short we are proposing you an unlimited budget for research, access to all information including some of which is not in the library, and a support team of one hundred of our top scientist."

"Why?" Yuuno shook her hand.

"In exchange for you researching what we request and overseeing construction of certain items." Tribeca met his eyes. "Please consider joining our organization."

"What is the name of this organization that you speak of?"

"Uniformity of the Four Quadrants, or U.F.C. For short."

Yuuno's eyes widened a moment before narrowing. "I assume you would request me to develop weaponry for you?" His voice lost it's casualness. "What do you want with the people you named? What is this Unison request you spoke of?"

Tribeca noted the change in tone. "Jail Scaglietti worked for us and we would like enlist the aid of the people who disposed of him for our army."

"I'll take the papers." Yuuno held out his hand. "Please leave the premises immediately. Admiral Chrono will contact you in a few days to give you the news." He was handed a small disc shaped item and the red haired woman turned to leave.

"Please think about the offer, Yuuno-sensei." With that, she left the build and teleported once outside.

"Is Hayate in her office?" Yuuno asked immediately, getting a short nod. Wasting no time he ran to the elevator and pushed the button, ignoring his friend telling him that she didn't want to be disturbed right now. The ride up did nothing to calm his nerves and by the time he reached the hallway of the top floor his hands were already shaking. The man stood in front of Hayate's door a few moments before knocking on it briskly. A short reply told him to enter so he did, walking over to the girl and sitting down in front of her. Hayate seemed shocked to see him and quickly closed down all her monitors. The two sat in silence for almost a minute before Yuuno spoke up, handing her the disc. "We're in trouble. The U.F.C. took notice of us and wants section six to be part of their army." Hayate blinked, slowly taking the offered item. "Before you load that lock everything and put it in a separate player that isn't connected with anything. I don't want any chance of a virus being on board."

"The U.F.C..." Hayate seemed a little confused. "You mean the people who are trying to get everyone in the four quadrants of the universes to be under one rule?" Yuuno nodded at her. "The...same ones that have declared war on several planets when they refused to meet their 'terms' for the treaty?" Again another nod, making Hayate swallow. "The ones... that have a record of being bitter enemies of the T.S.A.B and have committed genocide of entire planets just because they were allied with us?" Yuuno nodded a third time. "They... want us now?"

"And that's not the worst part." Yuuno looked into her eyes. "Apparently Jail was just an expendable scientist to them. Us killing him attracted their attention, and they already gave me a job offer. I'm sorry, there's more," He reached out and caught Hayate's hand when she went to summon a monitor. "They know You, Fate, Nanoha, and myself by name. We're specific targets."

"...I think I'm going to throw up." She took a few deep breaths and found Yuuno beside her, rubbing her back shortly after. "This stays between us, I will contact Chrono directly about this... Carim of the Saint Church will probably need to know as well. No one else, though. Don't mention this to Nanoha or Fate especially all right?" She got an understanding nod so she took one last steadying breath. "Let's see what's on this disc..."

* * *

"Subaru, I'm home." Tia spoke softly as she entered the dark room. She heard a small mummer from the direction of the beds and smiled to herself. "Sorry to wake you." The door closed softly and the orange haired girl felt her way across the room to her dresser. The third drawer was opened and a small light came on inside of it,casting a soft blueish white haze over the contents. Picking up a long loose shirt, she closed the drawer and started to strip. Her still damp hair fell out behind her after a quick pull to get it out from under her sleep shirt. With a small shake of her head she fluffed her hair out a little more and peeled off her socks. Normally she wouldn't have bothered to put some on after a shower but the cold weather had started getting worse the past few days. Already she could see her breath during early morning jogs and late night exercises. "Subaru, do you mind if I cut the heat on a little more?" Another half hearted moan acknowledged her and she took it as a 'go ahead', which she did. Almost at once a soft hum came from the vents as the warm air flowed into the room. At times like this she almost wished the top bunk was hers, as it was normally warm and cozy instead of chilly like hers was. Disregarding that, she moved over to her bed and pulled up the covers to slide in and almost yelped when she felt someone in her bed as well. "Subaru! What are you doing in my bed?"

"Sleeping," She replied absently, clearly not awake yet. "You're letting in cold air, stop." Lazily she reached up to pull the covers back down. "Hurry and get in."

"But," She blushed. "Subaru, it's embarrassing... get in your bed."

The blue haired girl finally opened her eyes and looked up at the girl sitting on the mattress. "I fell asleep waiting for you, don't make me get in my cold bed?" Her sleepy request hit it's mark, making Tia sigh and start to move. "I don't want you to leave either," She added in while gripping her nightshirt. "Sleep with me, Tia?" At first the girl didn't do anything but stay still, slowly reaching a hand over to touch Subaru's fingers clutching her shirt. "Come on," Subaru whispered again, giving a slight tug. "Please?"

"...Okay," even though it was only the two of them in the room she still spoke in a whisper, as if she didn't want anyone else to overhear. Sinking down, she laid herself under the covers and got comfortable, immediately feeling Subaru press up against her front and lay an arm across her waist. Soon after, a smooth leg ran up between hers, stopping at her shins. Subaru's knee was brought up next, stopping at her inner thighs while cuddling. "Subaru..." The name came out as a soft gasp, inhaling her sleeping partner's breath. Their eyes were still open, looking at each other from the scarce few inches between them. Tia licked her lips without thinking about it. "You smell good," She stated, getting a goofy smile. The close contact was making her heart beat faster and the rubbing on her side was doing nothing to calm her down. 'T_his is why I didn't want to sleep with her,_' She thought to herself, cheeks coloring at the innocent intended touching. 'T_here's no way I can sleep like this... my heart is beating too fast..._' She looked down at her girlfriend's lips. '_How long has it been since we went open with our relationship?_' Her hand went up to touch Subaru's cheek and was rewarded with a happy smile from the sleepy girl. '_Just one kiss will be okay. We can sleep after a goodnight kiss..._'

Leaning forward, she slightly pressed their lips together softly. Tia heard a soft content sound come from her partner and felt a little bit of pride inside of herself for causing it. '_One more... one more and then we'll sleep,_' She let the idea run though her mind as she took a small breath and kissed her again, being pulled closer. '_ One more... Just one more..._' The rubbing on her side had finally worked her shirt up enough to feel Subaru's warm hand touch her skin, giving her a full body shiver. Without realizing it she gave a slight rock of her body against her, moving her hand down over Subaru's back and lifting her shirt enough to rub her skin directly. A flurry of kisses followed, each one leaving them slightly out of breath and more awake. The amount of time it took was unknown to them but Tia soon found herself pressed hard against her girlfriend, hands trailing each other's bodies freely without restraint. Having had her fill of touching, the orange haired one rolled over on top of her girlfriend. Panting, they looked into each other's eyes with foreheads touching. "Subaru," She began, smiling fondly down at her and breathing harder than normal. "I love you, Subaru."

"Tia..." The feelings the single word had could not be described. The smile on her face said it all, the sheer amount of joy running though her heart. Hugging her tightly, Subaru nodded quickly. "I love you too! Lots and lots!" They stayed together hugging for a long moment, stopping only when Tia started kissing her neck. Taking the hint, the blue haired girl began rubbing her skin. Moving back, they looked at each other a moment more before kissing again, whispering the same three words over and over again as their bodies started rocking against each other.

* * *

"Well," Chrono Harlaown leaned back in his chair and looked at the monitors in front of him. Hayate was in the middle, paired with Yuuno in his own screen to her left. Adding in on Hayate's right was a blond woman dressed in something that resembled a religious gown. "The U.F.Q... I've had some particularly bitter encounters with them as well but I never would have thought that Jail Scaglietti would be working for them. However, if they got interested in you because you killed him then it means that he was highly looked upon, although they were probably looking for a way to cut him off anyway..." He rubbed the bridge of his nose. "The peace treaty they gave you is one I've seen countless times before, it's nothing more than a formal 'join us or be destroyed' letter."

"This isn't the first time?" Carim asked softly, looking over at him from her side of the screen. "They have contacted you before about things like this?"

"Not me directly but people under me. What they want is for the T.S.A.B, which looks over most of the eastern quadrant, to give in to them and basically adhere to their rules. In short, let them regulate trade, speak their common language, use their money, and in all ways have a 'we will protect you until you piss us off, then we'll kill you and use it as an example to others' deal. They think that by using force they can make all of the universe completely peaceful."

Yuuno nodded. "I've read several things about them. As an advanced dictatorship they leave a few highly trained people on each planet and use their advanced weaponry to basically enslave it until the person in charge figures out how the planet is ran, then proceeds to do so. On a small scale they really do bring peace and harmony to everyone under them. However they are too severe... Zero tolerance. Instead of trying to control a planet that uprises against them..." He nodded at their looks to confirm the worst.

"Are they dumb enough to challenge the entire T.S.A.B?" Hayate looked over at everyone.

"Negative," Chrono shook his head slowly. "They only want recruiting whenever they mess with us. Declaring an all out war would destroy more than could ever be recovered. Even they know that."

"So when we tell them no, will they back off?" Carim pondered it. "I have a feeling that it won't be that simple, given there history."

Chrono closed his eyes. "No, they won't."

"Anyone who turns them down dies." Yuuno gave the news that Chrono obviously didn't want to say. "They're going to try and assassinate Fate, Nanoha, Hayate and myself. Make sure we can't be used against them if we won't _work for_ them._"_

"That's why we need your help, Carim." Chrono looked towards the blond. "Will you lend us your aid?"

Carim tried her best to smile given the situation. "You have the full support of the church. We will deploy a special team there for 'good relations' on the outside view. Hayate, may we impose upon some rooms from you?"

"I have rooms and job placements for everyone who would like to take them, free of charge with full benefits of course."

The blond did smile this time. "Don't worry, they will give up if they can't succeed right?"

"From the past records, yes." Yuuno nodded. "The forwards may be in trouble as well so let's stay on the down low. Make sure none of them stand out in any way. Chrono, will you give them our answer?"

"Ah, I will contact Tribeca as soon as our conference has ended. In the mean time, stay low and on guard. Inform Nanoha and Fate to stay on alert but don't tell them anything more than is necessary. They have been through so much lately I don't think they can mentally handle something like this out of the blue. I want to take no chances at all on Fate until we're absolutely positive there's no chance of her forgetting anything he recently remembered."

Yuuno looked at Chrono in shock. "You don't think we should tell them someone is trying to _kill_ them!?"

"Yuuno!" Chrono glared at him. "If you told Nanoha someone was trying to kill Fate, what would be the _first_ thing she'd do?" The other male stayed silent, looking away. "Right. We can't have them acting rashly like that. Ground them to the base, make any excuse, send them to Earth for a while, I don't care. Just make sure they are being observed every hour of the day. Same with you two, just stay safe. I'm approving the limiter removal of all three aces."

"I agree," Carim added in to the mix. "Both of us together can make the higher ups understand. As an assassination attempt it shouldn't be that hard." The room got silent for a few moments after Hayate thanked them. "Well, we shouldn't waste time. I will get on everything right now." All four people looked at their screens a moment longer before nodding at each other and cutting communications.

Chrono took a deep steading breath after seeing the monitors click off in front of him. "Well then... I better get this over with." Inserting the small disc he was given into a separate drive, he brought up a contact monitor that connected him to Tribeca. "Hello," He greeted her civilly and instantly got a frown. "I'm afraid I will have to turn down your offer for section Six's Aces." The monitor cut off on him, immediately sending the separate player into a sparking fit, destroying it. "Well," He mused while looking at the smoking device. "Good thing Yuuno warned me about that..."

* * *

Elio awoke slowly, the dim light shining across his eyes thanks to the morning sun creeping through his blinds. '_Already?'_ He reached up and rubbed his eyes lightly. '_Time for another day; better get ready._' He had never had trouble waking up before and today was no exception. As soon as he sat up his eyes were sharp and the schedule was being played out in his mind. Something gripped his shirt, making him turn quickly to the side with a fast jerk. Caro laid next to him in her pajamas, still sleeping despite his motions. '_Caro, not again?_' With a sigh he gently moved her hand from his shirt and placed it on the bed to let her sleep while he prepared for the day. '_It's been almost two months since I came back and you still sneak into my bed to make sure I don't go anywhere?_' his mind pondered the situation while looking around his room for sweat pants and shirt to jog in. After Lutecia had finally settled down in Caro's room and made herself at home with her new bunk mate Caro had been spending all her time with her. At first he felt a little odd because he was used to her holding onto him everywhere he went but soon found out that she was holding back because she wanted to get to know the purple haired girl better. Because of this she became extra clingy to him whenever they were alone, often sitting so close to him that he put his arms around her shoulders to become more comfortable. When he had disappeared all day one Firesday following to go work at Fuji's, Caro had a fit wondering where he was or if he was abducted again.

That same night the dragon summoner had come into his room, asking if he minded sleeping together. After the first turn down she brought up the fact that Lutecia had slept with him one night and he quickly informed her that it was a purely platonic thing. Once those words were said she claimed that this was as well, and hopped under his covers. Thinking it was a one night only deal he gave in and held her until morning. The insect summoner threw a fit and claimed Caro was being 'unfair' at something or another and stated that she would be spending the night in his room. Weeks later and he found himself claimed as a human teddy bear randomly, sometimes not realizing it until he woke up, such as today. With a light shaking of his head, Elio pushed the thoughts from his mind and slid on his socks. After lacing up his shoes he looked over at the sleeping Caro and smiled to himself. Not thinking about it, he brought up his fingers and formed a yellow screen between them to frame her body and snapped a picture. "Store in album, please," He requested from Strada and got beep of acknowledgment.

Before leaving his room he wrote a small note on his desk telling Caro good morning and taped it to his door so she would see it. Now free of guilt for leaving her asleep he walked out his door and made his way downstairs. The freezing morning air greeted his lungs, leaving small puffs of white fog from his lips when he exhaled. The boy stretched out his muscles while walking to the track that circled the base. 'A_ll right,_' He looked at the lines and stretched out his legs as well. '_I have a month before the mage test... Just long enough to make sure I'm in top physical condition. I better make each day count._' Narrowing his eyes, he started jogging down the track, breathing steadily. '_But for some reason, I have a feeling of dread in the back of my throat..._' The sky above him thundered loudly, making his eyes glance upward. '_No wonder the sunlight this morning was so weak... A storm is coming._' The redhead's eyes went back down to look where he was running, catching a small glimpse of someone covered in a cloak. '_Eh? Someone else up at this early hour?_' turning, he went to greet the person but found no one there. The boy's eyes looked around himself, even turning in a circle to find him. 'T_hat's odd... Maybe I'm seeing things?_' Shrugging, he started jogging again. '_Oh well, nothing to do with me probably._'

* * *

Hayate: Unidentified mages in the city holding a relic!

Nanoha: I'm on it!

Yuuno: Wait!

Fate: What's wrong?

Hayate: I want to see the forwards in action. Can they be deployed?"

Nanoha: Yes but...

Hayate: Then deploy all five of them. Nanoha-chan, Fate-chan, you two are to remain here and observe.

????: They send children to fight me?

Tia: You are under arrest! Drop your weapons and come quietly!

????: Drop my weapons...? Young girl, I don't think you know who you're dealing with.

Yuuno: Is that...No! It can't be! What would _he_ be doing here!?

Subaru: Next time on Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha: Redemption, "The Azure Flame!"

Subaru:...Tia... I'm scared...


	2. Chapter 2

Moving down the large office space, I weaved in and out of the many cubical working areas. A few people were caught goofing off but quickly returned to their job after a glare from me. Times like this made me realize just how much easier it was to get around without the large mass of hair following me everywhere. Although I didn't like to admit it, when I rounded corners fast sometimes a stray hair would get caught on something and be plucked from my head. I missed my hair but after the few months that it has been gone I've come to accept it. At least now I can blame Nanoha's hair for clogging the drain in the shower. The thought made me giggle to myself and I shook my head with an amused look. Finally I made my way to the elevator and took a floor down before walking through a more hectic area than I had in the floor above. Even though I didn't oversee this area at all, my rank still made people focus heavily on their job when I walked past. Since this floor was almost a mirror of mine, I quickly made my way to the main office separated off form the others by glass. The in-panel blinds were closed, forcing me to knock on the door and wait a moment before being beckoned to enter. Syllabus, a man with long brown hair swept into a ponytail, greeted me with a kind smile as I handed him the application papers for the upcoming mage tests. The forwards, as well as Nanoha and myself, were now officially registered to increase their rank in three weeks.

**6th Division: Redemption II**

**By: Satashi**

Tia concentrated hard, looking up at Nanoha with a determined expression. Her teacher was upside down several feet above her with a hand reaching down in an attempt to grab the training girl. "Come on," Nanoha encouraged her. "Focus Tia, you can do it!" The gun user was hovering many feet off the ground, swaying lightly in an attempt to go farther up into the air. "You're so close!" Their finger tips touched each other's, making Tia's face break into an accomplished expression. Immediately after, however, she swayed hard to the side and fell hard to the ground below her. "Are you okay?" Nanoha landed and helped her stand. "You lost your concentration and made your magic unbalanced."

"I know," Tia rubbed her temples. "Is it always this nerve wracking? When does it get so easy you can do it without even thinking?" She found two small pills being offered to her and blinked when a bottle of water also came into view. "Thank you," She took the pills and swallowed them down with the liquid. "Sorry about this."

"Don't be," The ponytailed woman laughed. "I shouldn't even be teaching you this until you're double-A, so it's my fault you've been having these constant headaches. It does get to the point where you can fly without even thinking about it but it takes time and mentality. That's why Triple-A and even S-classes have a lot of mages that can't fly. It takes a special someone to be in the air force. Like I told you before, when I learned it was because I didn't even have a choice. I either learned to fly right then and there or I would probably die. Even still, my flying was wobbly and whenever I took off I normally flew to the side a moment before correcting myself. It wasn't until I took the three month primer course before I could take off or land properly. You may not be cutting flips yet, but you've already mastered form."

"Will I be able to use this for my mage ranking test or would it be better not to mention it yet?" She drank heavily from the water bottle and exhaled once done. "Ah, I feel refreshed already."

Nanoha smiled at her and opened her mouth to reply but a monitor appeared in front of her. "Nanoha-chan!" Hayate's voice sounded scared. "I saw you flying!"

"I was teaching Tia," She defended herself. "And I'm on the training field, I have permission to fly here!"

"Well... Well, for the next little bit I'm going to have to revoke that! For now on you can only fly in-doors."

Nanoha's eyes went wide. "What!? Come on Hayate-chan, that's not fair! I didn't do anything wrong, I've even stopped flying from my room to the training field like you asked! Flying inside a building is pointless, there's no air or clouds or anything!...Wait a second, you can't fly inside buildings anyway, there's no where to go!"

"I'm sorry, but as your superior, I don't want you flying! People could see you!"

"People see me all the time, why would it matter now?"

Hayate paused. "Th-that's not important! Anyway, no more flying, I mean it."

Nanoha stayed silent a moment before looking away angrily. "Fine. I understand, ma'am." The brown haired girl looked hurt at the tone, sadly turning her eyes before closing the communication. "Tia, I'm canceling our extra training for this afternoon, I think I might hurt you if I don't take a breather before practice."

"But... isn't she your childhood friend? Can't you talk to her about this?"

The teacher sighed out. "Tia, friendship is very important, but it has no place in military ranks. Hayate-chan goes out of her way for me all the time, just as I go out of my way for her. However, when all is said and done, she is my superior and I must do as she says. If I don't the higher ups will notice, and say that her leadership isn't up to snuff and that I was a bad influence on my students. At the end of the day we're friends, so I can be miffed at her if I want to; better than causing a scene." Nanoha looked down at her watch. "Fate should be eating lunch about right now, I wonder if she's at the apartment... Anyway, have you thought about your future?" With a slight push she made Tia start walking with her towards the rest of the base from their little island. "About what style of combat you want to master?"

"I have," She nodded. "But I'm not sure just yet. Each one has their advantages and disadvantages..." Looking up, she grinned at Nanoha. "I can see why Subaru idolizes you so much."

"Oh I don't know, she's been spending a lot more time with Vita-chan ever since I started giving you privet lessons. Speaking of Subaru, I noticed you two have been looking at each other a lot the past two days?" Nanoha smirked at Tia and nudged her. "I think my students are finally getting a little 'training' going on in their bedroom, huh?"

"N-Nanoha-san!" Tia's face grew warmer at the words. "Th-that's private! How did you know!?"

"Well, besides you just telling me," She gave her student a moment to kick herself. "I can just tell. I acted the same way after Fate and I had our first time. Ahhh, what a night." She looked up at the sky as she remembered it. "Candles, soft music, rose petals on the bed..."

"R-really!?"

"Yup. Was the picture perfect night... at least until morning."

"What happened then?"

"We didn't blow out the candles and we had melted wax everywhere, as well as rose petals all in the covers and floor. Whatever we didn't find dried up and crumbled so we had to change the sheets on the bed every day almost because of it. Not to mention the sheets were stained red from our sweat and petals being rubbed against them. But oh _man_ was it worth it. She does this _thing_ with her tongue that just-"

"Enough!" Tia almost screamed, making Nanoha cover her mouth when she realized what exactly she had just said. "Whoa, you really don't know when to stop do you?"

"Sorry." Nanoha bowed lightly, embarrassed. The two split up at the elevator then, leaving Nanoha alone to walk into her apartment. She found Fate on the couch with her arms crossed, glaring at the T.V screen. From the frown on her face and body position, Nanoha could tell that her fiancée was in a bad mood. To counter this, she straightened up her own boots for once and walked upstairs to their bedroom, grabbing some lotion. Once back downstairs she sat next to Fate and reached over, unbuttoning her shirt.

"Nanoha, I'm _really_ not in the mood for-" A finger touched her lips, making her stop protesting.

Once she had taken off the top half of her lover's clothes, she smiled fondly at her. "On your stomach." Fate did as she was told and laid down on the couch. Moments later her hair was moved to the side and warm wet hands were placed on her back, massaging. "What happened Honey? Not hungry today?" Her fingers worked the warming lotion into the blonde's skin.

"Hayate," The tone was obviously a little harsh at the word. "Forbade me to drive my car into the city for some reason. Instead I was grounded to base indefinitely to oversee the new police force coming to train here. My whole schedule is messed up, and instead of patrolling and some office work, I have to play 'boss' to a bunch of D and C ranked mages."

"Eh? But that was supposed to be my job, I'm the instructor." Nanoha paused her rubbing momentarily but picked back up again when Fate frowned at what was going on.

"I know, it doesn't make any sense. I don't know the first thing about training people. She said I just had to show up to ensure they were learning the basics of being good police men and how to fight in crowded areas and the like. I wouldn't mind so much if they were going into the military but these are only the police transfers. I know we're here for public safety and all but I fail to see the point of me being there. And why did she ground me to the base? I didn't even do anything..."

"She grounded me as well," Nanoha spoke during a silent spot. "Quite literally; I'm forbidden to fly anywhere, even on the training field. I have no idea how I'm going to teach Tia anymore, maybe I should just focus on her weapon training and let Vita handle Subaru and the other three lightning members..."

"This is so weird..." Fate looked over her shoulder at her. "Did we do something to merit this? Maybe she's just nervous after we almost died on our last mission? It would make sense, trying to protect us." Her face fell against her pillow and she talked into it. "But grounding us like this... How am I supposed to buy groceries if I can't leave the base? Our on board grocery store sucks and our butcher and fish mongers are in town... Augh, Let's talk to her later."

"Okay, let's drop it until then." Her hands continued to rub the smooth skin, calming them both down. After attacking the red eyed girl's neck with the warm lotion and rubbing she started to hum slightly. "Fate?" She asked softly with a smile. Her lover had her eyes closed, breathing steadily. Every now and then a soft hum would come from her, Fate's own version of snoring. Having to repress a giggle, Nanoha slowly moved on top of her. With a small beckoning on her shoulder she managed to make Fate scoot to the edge of the couch and get on her side. With just enough room to squeeze down between them, Nanoha got behind her and pulled the blanket down to cover their bodies. "A little nap never hurt anyone," She thought aloud, rubbing Fate's stomach until her hands was grasped lazily and held onto.

* * *

Hayate blinked when the screen of the training field came up at her desk. "Oi," Vita greeted her casually while tapping her hammer on her shoulder. "Did Nanoha say anything about missing tonight's practice? I thought Fate was going to help her train this time around." The brown haired girl started at the screen blankly for a few seconds without responding. "Hayate? Something wrong?" The little one blinked when her friend turned to look at Yuuno. 

"They're in their room," He spoke after a quick scan. "I'll go check on them."

"I'm coming," Hayate hopped out of her chair. "Vita, I'm going to get them now, keep up the good work okay?" She got a small hum and the monitor cut off. "Don't think they're hurt or anything do you?" They tried to walk down the halls as fast as they could without making people wonder what their hurry was. "You would have sensed any magic being used right?"

"Should have yes. It's not like them to just not show up without contacting someone. Come to think of it, it's uncommon for them to miss work period. Have they ever missed a day?"

"Only when I give them time off, and even then they still work. Since I let them take Firesday off they never miss any other day." The two made their way across the cold field, the setting sun glowing in the background. "Speaking of days, notice how short they are? Really annoying, I need to budget some more lights around here." The small talk eased both their nerves a moment as they rode the elevator up to the sixth floor. Once there they both hurried over to the door and opened it using Hayate's rank. "Nanoha-chan? Fate-chan?" She called out instantly, looking around. A groan greeted her and the pair went to the couch, seeing Nanoha slowly sitting up and looking at them sleepily. "Nanoha-chan, were you _asleep_?" The girl blinked lightly, muttering something about the time. "It's almost four-thirty! You were supposed to be at the training field half an hour ago! You have any idea how worried we were? We thought something happened to you two!"

"Huh?" Fate finally woke up at Hayate's outburst and sat up slowly, letting the covers fall. "What's going on?"

"Oh please tell me you two weren't sleeping after sex?" Hayate face-palmed.

Fate looked down and realized she was topless. To remedy this she simply held the covers to her chin. "Wha? No, She rubbed my back and I fell asleep." turning to sit properly she rubbed her eyes. "I'm sorry, we didn't set an alarm, we'll be right there." She was about to bring up what had put them in the situation in the first place but she noticed Yuuno with her as well. "We need to talk later okay Hayate?"

"Sure." She just seemed relieved more than upset right now. "Wake up and get to the training field please, Vita is handling it all right now." Nanoha stood up and Fate reached down to pick up her bra to put on. "Come on Yuuno-kun, let's go back." She looked up at him and noticed that his eyes were in the girl's general direction. Looking back, she saw Fate sluggishly trying to clasp her bra to cover herself. A new feeling ran through the girl's body, making her grab Yuuno's arm and literally pull him out of the room. "Come _on_ I said!"

"Hayate, hey, ow, that hurts. What's up with you?" He pulled his arm back and rubbed the spot that was grabbed. "I wanted to say something to them." despite his complaint he still walked beside her back to the elevator.

"More like stare at Fate-chan," She huffed at him, crossing her arms and looking away. "You looked at her breasts."

"Well she _was_ kind of topless in case you didn't notice." He sounded rather offended. "Not that it matters, I've walked in on them countless times in the past. I've seen Nanoha naked ever since I was nine, and Fate too most of the time, they're like my sisters! I wouldn't think twice about it now even if they were fully naked in the shower making like bunnies! Come to think of it, I have been in that situation..."

"So you can see their breasts because you're their childhood friend?"

"She didn't exactly seem to mind did she? Proof right there."

"Well I'm your childhood friend and you never look at _my_ breasts!" She protested loudly, glaring at him. The elevator went silent as the two looked at each other. Hayate's face slowly colored when she realized what she had just obviously complained about. When the doors opened she quickly left, walking as fast as she could to get away from him. '_Oh my god, what is wrong with me!?_' She had to stop at the door to allow several new policemen entrance to the mess hall. '_Why on earth would I want him to look at me!? He's my best friend!_' The delay gave the male enough time to catch up and simply stand beside her.

The cold air greeted them harshly when they stepped outside, the wind flaring out Yuuno's long ponytail. Hayate shivered, holding her arms in an attempt to stay warm. "Here," He placed his jacket over the girl's shoulders. "You should wear stockings or something, you'll catch a cold if you don't keep warm."

Hayate reluctantly accepted the warm blazer and held it tight in front of her, pleased that it went to her knees to cover much more than her miniskirt did. "Stockings huh...?" She looked over and up at him just as a red screen flared to life flashing Alert at them. The two started at the screen for a full three seconds before turning to run the rest of the way to the building. "What's the situation?" Once close enough, both of them leaped into the air and flew up the few stories into the large landing area that was connected to the mission room.

"Several unidentified mages," Shari told them immediately. "Causing havoc downtown, not far from the bridge leading to the base.

"What are their goals?" Yuuno stood next to Hayate's chair and observed the monitors giving them feed. "Logia? Relic? Money?"

"They seem to just be destroying things, sir." another operative revealed. "The local police have been pushed back and the area is being evacuated as we speak. The only demand so far was for 'a good challenge' as they put it."

Hayate bit her thumbnail, eyes glancing over towards Yuuno. '_These don't seem like your average misfits..._' Her words flew into his heart telepathically.

'_The U.F.Q is probably behind this in an attempt to lure us out into the open or to weaken out base defenses enough to launch a real attack. Regardless we can't rush into this carelessly._' His eyes looked over to the forwards as they ran into the room as well as Nanoha and Fate. "Nanoha, how are the forwards in terms of solo operating?"

"Just fine, they have been separated several times before?"

Hayate caught on to what was being said. "I want them to handle this by themselves."

Fate stepped forward. "Wait, we can't just send them alone! They're still privates!"

"I'll go with them," Signum stated, catching Hayate's eyes. Vita, come with me."

With a nod, Hayate gave the command. "Forwards, scramble to the helicopter. Vice will fly you there. Signum, Vita, stay on board in case any more enemy signal come up. Tia, you will lead this mission."

"Ma'am!" They all saluted except for the gunslinger, who was looking over in terror at Nanoha.

"Move out!" Hayate shouted, making them all run out of the room. "Nanoha-chan, Fate-chan, please stay here. If anything happens we'll be ready for it." The two girls gave her a nasty look before turning and walking over to the monitors to start observing everyone as they reached the heli-pad. '_They're pissed,_' Hayate spoke mentally to Yuuno, looking down. '_But I'd rather them be mad at me for a little while if it means they will stay safe... I can't handle something like last time again..._' She felt a hand on her shoulder and reached back to place hers on top of it in an attempt to gain some confidence.

* * *

Tia swallowed nervously, looking at the four people and the single dragon who were gazing at her with expectant eyes. "Okay," She spoke up finally and got the attention of Vita and Signum as well. "Suba...Star Three, You will deploy first with your wing road. Lightning Three, Lightning Five, you two will follow Subaru. Lightning four, fly your dragon and cover from the air. I will follow last and provide cover fire until we land. From there, Lightning Three and Five, you take the west flank and proceed north. Lightning Five, provide long distance offensive spells. Lightning Four, keep the support from the air." She got saluted to show everyone understood. "Our first priority is to protect any civilians. Secondary we are to take them hostage, avoid fatal combat if possible. Now... Deploy!" Taking a cue from Hayate, she threw out her arm for effect. Just as she had ordered, the group inside left the aircraft in a fast orderly fashion. "Signum-san, Vita-san... If for some reason I mess up, protect my team." With those words she jumped out as well, sliding down Subaru's wing road to the ground. 

Running forward, She called forth her gun and weaved through the crowded streets. Everyone had split apart smoothly to cover the grounds as fast as possible, leaving Tia to meet up with the police foce. '_Stars Three, engaged!'_ Subaru's voice floated through the open communication device in her ear. '_Lightning Three, engaged!_' Elio updated his status followed shortly by Lutecia. A large shadow flew over her while running, Caro's dragon circling the sky as she gave her support. The police line was close now, only hindered by the stupid by-standards who were trying to see what was happening despite gunfire and explosions. When close enough she plowed through them mercilessly, even shoving to the side while making her path. Once finally at the line she ducked under the tape and ran to one of the officers who noticed her. "Private Tiana Lanster from 6th mobile division!" She didn't have time to check his rank so saluted him anyway. "We're here to help, my squad ahas already engaged two other areas. I need to speak to the commander in charge, sir!"

"Thank goodness," A new voice made her turn and salute a policeman with several medals and badges on his shirt. "Hayate-san never leaves us hanging. The situation, soldier, is just as you can guess. We have cornered two men in the building behind us. Unfortunately they have several hostages."

"Their demands?"

"Nothing yet, they have already killed one of my men sent in to negotiate. It seems as if they are waiting for something."

"I see..." Tia took a deep breath. "I'm going in then." with a flip of her wrist she disabled Cross Mirage's first form and started walking to the building. She felt the odd itch on her skin, knowing that a laser sight had been placed on her but she kept walking anyway. When she was at the door of the huge building she opened it slowly, being greeted with cool air. Several people were on the ground, whimpering and crying while looking at her with pleading eyes. Two men were in the middle, each holding a mage staff. From the way they gripped it and stance they took when faced with her they were relatively inexperienced. "I'm un-armed," she informed them, lifting her hands. "I'm here to talk. Take it easy we can work something out."

The two people looked at each other and laughed, deciding that this new girl would provide them with some amusement. "Okay," One of them began with a smirk. "Start talking."

* * *

Elio dived to the ground to avoid the energy blast fired at him from the side. Chunks of brick fell on top of him as he rolled but he didn't stop his charge. Everything turned gray for just a moment, time slowing down for only him as the burst of speed enveloped him from Caro. Rapid fire magical bullets flew at him from all directions but none seemed to hit him as he blurred around and ran up the side of a building. Sounds of breaking concrete ripped up behind the main person shooting at him before he lost his consciousness to the blunt end of the boy's spear. Along with the man another turned, mouth dropping at the sight of a young boy moving so fast he cracked the ground where his feet hit. He too fell to a stunning stab of Strada only leaving one left. Elio didn't seem scared of the man pointing a staff at his head, however. Instead he only smirked at the single wasp that landed onto the hand of the one opposing him. Within seconds the humming sound of wings flared around him as they were engulfed in an insect swarm. Beating wings soared around him, mixed with the screams of the poor man being stung. When it was over Elio opened his eyes again, seeing the man on the ground and Lutecia walking over towards them. 

The explosion came out of no where, ripping the two apart and being saved only by the sudden shield flashing to life around them. Landing, Elio slid along the ground smoothly in his new armor. White metal covered his barrier jacket, flashed in places with his signature red. Dragon horns blessed his joints, complete with one on the helmet that guarded his face. Moving his spear, he flared it to life as the new enemy jumped down from wherever he had been hiding. "They sent kids to deal with us?" He asked, voice dripping with disappointment. "My my, and after we even manipulated this petty gang of reject mages to cause enough destruction to get _them_ here... Seems like we wasted our time."

"Put down your weapons and come quietly," Lutecia spoke to him, voice quiet and calm.

"Put down our weapons?" The man stood, clad in a blueish black barrier jacket that seemed to be more like battle armor than cloth. "My little lady, you don't know who you are dealing with do you?" Looking to the side, he noticed Elio shift into a battle stance. "Are you going to attack us, boy?" He seemed more amused than threatened. "Come then, have at us." Turning back around, he looked up into the sky at the dragon.

Elio snarled. "Sonic move!" Even the air slowed around him as he sped up. Moving so fast he couldn't even breathe from the burst enhanced by Caro's abilities. The pavement under his boots broke from the force of the speed and power ripping through his veins. '_I'll end it on one slash,_' His mind thought as the distance closed in between them. He could see the man blink his eyes, seemingly moving in slow motion from the ungodly movements he was moving at. Once close enough he reared back his spear and started to slash, moving too quickly to even load a cartridge.

The next moment Lutecia saw Elio fly away from the enemy they were fighting and crash into the corner of a building, breaking a large chunk out of it. His body landed roughly and slid almost two feet before stopping. Very slowly blood started to leak around him from the gash in his chest visible through the block of armor now missing. Shocked, she looked at the man who was simply holding up one arm, apparently having backhanded her partner without even looking. "So slow," He mused casually. "We have been observing your moves for a few days now so they will not work on us. Caro screamed from the air and the next moment he was walking through an inferno of dragon flame. Raising a hand, he blasted Elio's body, breaking more of the armor off of him.

"Stop it!" Lutecia finally snapped. With gasp of air she formed her magical circle underneath her. "What I desire, a-" She stopped speaking, suddenly finding herself picked up by the neck. He had moved so fast not even the flames had time to realize they could now burn the area he had been standing.

"Unhand her!" Caro yelled again, eyes narrowing as Lutecia was thrown away like a doll.

"Guess it wouldn't do to let you die without knowing who killed you," He spoke to them. "We are the Azure Flame," raising a hand, Several blue balls of fire started circling him. "You may also know us as "Tri-Edge", the head assassin of the U.F.Q." Carelessly walking towards the summoner as she pushed herself up, he formed the ball of heat into his hand. "Time to burn." Before he could move it, the fire in his hand froze so fast it still had form before shattering into pieces. "Oh?" Looking to the pink haired girl, he saw the dragon rider standing there shivering.

Caro's body shook, eyes glaring hatefully at the man who had just hurt her friends. The summoning circle was already formed, arctic temperatures raging around her as ice blue scales formed into the shape of a dragon's leg. "Shiva," She finally spoke, eyes darkening due to the spiteful Dragon's influence on her. "I want him alive," She warned. "But I don't care how much you have to hurt him to do it."

"_Yes, Princess Caro Lu Rushie,_" Shiva's voice floated through her mind as she let out a thundering roar.

* * *

"No...It can't be!" Yuuno slammed his fist onto the console in front of him. "What is _he_ doing there!?" 

Nanoha gasped out. "Did he say assassin!? U.F.Q!? What the heck is going on here!?" She turned to her friends. "You... You know something about this!?

"Pull them back!" Yuuno yelled at Hayate. "They're no match for him, they could die!"

"Signum, Vita!" Hayate contacted the others on site. "Get to the lightning members right now, they're in danger!"

Nanoha shook her head. "I can't do this, I'm going!"

"You can't!" Yuuno yelled at her a little too late. The girl had already flown out the window and was heading towards the city. "Son of a..." Slowly he turned to the others. "Make sure she doesn't engage the Azure Flame!"

"What's going _on_ here!?" Fate demanded, finally having enough. "You have ten seconds to explain this before I leave as well!"

* * *

Subaru grunted as she was slammed against the brick siding of a house. The battle she was in lead her into a residential area that was severely playing to her disadvantage. Despite clearly over powering the weak group of people she had been dispatched against her support was gone when Caro had to land and fight. Alone against a group in a civilian inhabited area she was greatly limited in her moves, forcing her to take to more standard tactics to battle. With a quick thrust she slammed her fist into the man's stomach. Normally she would have loaded a cartridge to follow up with an energy blast but the sight of people looking out their windows across the street forced her to simply punch again, knocking him out. Holding her side, she skated to the middle of the street and looked around. "Stars three," She panted out, holding a button on her ear piece to cut on her radio. "Northwest of your station is clear. Six or seven people to be arrested." She heard the response while panting and was tempted to simply wait for the police to reach her but she knew it wouldn't be that easy. "Tia," She spoke again, swapping the link to just her other Stars member. "Where are you, I'm done cleaning up here." Instead of getting a reply back through her radio her girlfriend's voice lifted into her mind. 

'_Subaru, I'm in a tight spot. These guys are pushing me too far, get to the building by the main police force pronto!' _Tia glared at the people in front of her, fingers itching to call forth her guns and just start blasting. So far they had played games with her, obviously trying to get a rise out of the girl. Finally it was to the point where they were annoyed, their fun starting to die down. "So," Tia spoke to them, voice calm. "Let's start talking about resolving this. If you'll put down your weapons we can peacefully end this and-"

"Get arrested and be put in jail," One of them snarled, pointing his staff towards a group of people huddled together. "Okay, I think we stalled long enough. Tri-Edge has surely gotten what he was after. Time for our part of the deal to come in. You there," He nodded towards Tia as he started charging a blast on his staff. "We want a million in un marked bills, small. Also want clear air space and a helicopter. All of our friends must be let go as well."

"Pretty stout demands," She replied softly. "I'll have to speak with the people outside. I'll need you to release some hostages as a sign of good will."

"Good will?" The man laughed. "How about do as I say or they die? Here's a preview." he released the charge towards the screaming group and smiled at the explosion and smoke it caused. Seconds ticked by as it cleared, terrified yells ringing out from everyone else in the large room. "What!?" His eyes narrowed at the orangish magical circle protecting them. "That circle... You're no cop!"

Tia formed both her guns and trained them on the people. "I'm military, section six. Drop your weapons, I have authority to harm you."

"Waste them!" The other man started shooting blast after blast at the people around them, each being nullified by Tia's well controlled counter measures. After a few moments her superior speed became apparent and she could afford to make one of her bullets fly towards them, shooting one of them directly through his weak barrier and making him slide across the floor onto his back. "Markus!" Taking no chances, the man grabbed a child no older than four and placed the tip of his staff to her head. "Don't think you can stop a blast this close can ya!?"

Tia stopped firing and kept her guns on him. "Put the child down. You don't have to do this."

"You're a freaking mage!" He shouted back at her. "He didn't say anything about us dealing with you!"

"Who is 'he'?" she pondered, still calm.

"Oh you'll find out," he laughed. "He'll come for us, we made a deal. You stay right there, hands up or I'll kill her, don't think I won't!"

Tia slowly held up her hands. "Okay, calm down. We can talk through this. Just sit her down and I'll place my weapons on the ground. You can walk out of here."

"Put your guns down first!" He nodded towards the ground. "Down!" The girl slowly bent over, keeping her eyes on him, and placed both guns onto the floor. "Now turn around!" When she didn't do it he pushed the staff closer on the crying girl, moving her head. "I said turn around!"

Doing as she was told, she looked up at the mirror at the top corner of the room to keep an eye on him. "Okay, now let the girl go. I will stay like this, you can run. No one has to be hurt."

"I'll take her with me!" Quickly turning, he ran into a back room and burst through a door, running up the stairs with the child under one arm.

"Dammit!" Tia quickly turned, snatching up her weapons and chasing after him. The stairs were climbed quickly, avoiding shots fired down at her from the frantic thug. She heard the rooftop door clang open and redoubled her speed, dancing up the stairs almost faster than her feet could touch the steps. Once she reached the top the man turned and pointed his staff at her, walking backwards. "There's no where to go!" She told him, pointing her pistols. "Release her and come quietly and you'll be given the right to a fair trial!

"Go to hell!" He started charging a shot and aiming at her, not noticing a blue stream of magic fly up behind him. Subaru's wing road lashed around behind the man, followed closely by the girl on skates. It didn't take but a few seconds to take in the situation and glide over to him, clocking the man upside the head with a powered punch from her revolver knuckle.

"Subaru! Just in time!" Tia ran over to them as the man simply fell over from the hit. The small girl held captive scrambled away and cried loudly towards her. "Good job!" Kneeling down, she opened her arms to accept the crying girl. Before she could get close enough, however, the man they thought to be unconscious released his charged blast on the floor. The ceiling of the building ripped apart, flaring out and making the little one literally sail through the air and over the side of the building. The pigtailed girl didn't stop to think about her actions before doing them. With a forceful jump she leapt over the the side and fell off as well, reaching out for the child. '_Fly!_' Her mind demanded as they plummeted to their death. '_FLY!_' As the ground came closer she grit her teeth hard, forcing her power to guide her. The last few seconds blurred together in her mind. Somehow she manged to catch up to the girl, grabbing her hard against her chest. The next thing she knew she was flying sideways a few feet off the ground. Upon realizing this she righted herself and hovered several moments before slowly descending.

"Tia!" Subaru skated down her road as the police force stormed the building and escorted the hostages out. "You flew! You really flew!" Once she was close enough she cracked her partner upside the head. "You scared three years off my life!"

"There she is!" Someone yelled out in the crowd, running over to them.

"Daddy!" The girl cried hard, letting go of Tia and clinging to the new man.

"My little girl..." He looked up at the two after making sure his daughter was all right. "You saved her life...Thank you! Really." He held his child close. "Thank you so much... I'll never forget this, ever."

Subaru nudged the suddenly blushing girl. "Hey, you're a hero."

Tia's eyes went wide. "No time for that!" Her hand went to her ear to press the button. "Lightning, respond! Give me an update! ... Lightning! LIGHTNING!" She looked at Subaru scared. "They're not answering."

* * *

"Vita-chan!" Nanoha flew in the air next to the girl and looked down in shock at the unconscious Caro in her arms. "What happened to my baby!?" 

"There is a mage down there," Vita stated flatly, looking at the ground. "Signum and I got there and they were already like this. He didn't seem to want to kill them and just let us take them. Signum is already in the helicopter, let's go."

"No," Nanoha turned to the ground. "I'm going to talk with him."

"Nanoha!" Vita yelled at her. "Whoever he is, he can beat the three of them at the same time. Two summoners! Don't mess with that unless you have to! Let's get out of here and regroup!"

"And let him get away!?" She glared hard, tears in her eyes. "I'm going to find out what caused this senseless battle!" With no more words she flew to the ground, landing softly and looking around. The area was almost completely destroyed, frozen solid in blocks of ice in some places and on fire in others. Kneeling, she picked up a chunk of purple and green armor. '_What's this...? Doesn't look like what Elio wears..._'

"Nanoha Takamachi." The voice made Nanoha stand. "You came after all. We guess our gesture of good will didn't go unnoticed after all."

"Tri-Edge." Nanoha glared at him. "You hurt them?"

"You may call us Kite. We always give our real name to people of value." Walking into the light, he revealed himself fully. Black boots with sparkling blue trim lead up to blue metal-ish type of armor covering his legs. It went to his chest and spread out the rest of his body, giving most of his barrier jacket a shine. Despite observing him, it was almost as if the blue and black armor seemed to shift around him. In all he looked like a new-age type of warrior knight, upgraded from the middle ages on earth. "You turned down the offer we so generously gave you, so now we were hired to make sure you couldn't be used against us."

"I have no idea what you're talking about," She growled at him. "But I am very displeased that you would hurt my students like that."

"We went easy on them." Kite shrugged it off.

"Who is this 'we' you are talking about? I don't see nor feel anyone else around."

"We are we." He pointed to himself. "Once we take care of you, Fate will be next."

Nanoha's eyes narrowed, waking something deep inside of her. "I won't let you." Pointing Raising Heart at him, she fired rapidly. Kite brought out one hand, slashing something that looked like a dagger several times. Each stroke met one of Nanoha's magic bullets and forced them to ricochet away from him into buildings nearby. After almost ten seconds of this Nanoha finally got impatient and stopped. The last of the attacks were deflected and he simply looked at her as if to ask if that was all she had.

"With that kind of power, how do you expect to stay alive?" Kite took a step forward. "I will make this as painless as I can. If you want to pray, do so now."

Nanoha yelled out loudly, reaching behind her back and forming the blood red copy of Signum's sword. Dashing forward she started slashing as fast as she could, once more being deflected by the single dagger. Time and time again the clicking sound of metal on metal rang around them. Her yell got louder, re-doubling her efforts only to be denied again and again. Kite met her eye and slashed his other dagger out, shooting her several feet back and onto her back. "Ugh..." Slowly sitting up, she glared at the man walking to her casually. Even though she wasn't touched from the strike her barrier jacket was still ripped clean to reveal her stomach.

"This needless death could have been avoided if you just would serve out master. Then Fate, Yuuno, and Hayate wouldn't have to die as well. We promise you they won't feel the pain. Is there a chance you will reconsider so we won't have to kill them?"

"Don't play games with me!" She shouted at him. "You don't sound regretful at all, how can I believe that!? You're enjoying this you sick bastard!"

"_I don't want anyone to be hurt!_" Deep inside of Nanoha, a new voice surfaced. "_Use me!_"

Nanoha growled low in her throat, forming black mist over her barrier jacket and staining it. "Come on... Come on!" Looking up, she glared at Kite with glowing yellow eyes. "I'm... right... here!" The familiar echoing surrounded her as the transformation to her third phase shift was completed. "Skeeeeiiith!"

"Oh?" Kite looked impressed. "So you too possess an avatar. This makes things interesting." readying his dagger, he beckoned her with his free hand.

Skeith flew forward so fast the air around them moved from the force of it. Her right hand slashed out with her claws, getting deflected by the man's dagger. Trying again, she moved her other hand forward. Kite's hand blurred with speed, countering both hands with his one. Sparks started flying around them as they clashed; Skeith slashing both hands as fast as she could and Kite deflecting them on his own. Yelling in frustration, the female leapt back, calling forth Raising Heart. Despite her years of experience she still couldn't see the move that came next. Kite was immediately in front of her, hand gripping her face. The next moment she found herself skidding across the ground in pain. "Ahn..." She slowly pushed herself up, yellow claws scratching the ground while despretily trying to remember how to stand.. "What... are you?"

"We are we," He replied as he did before. "Die."

"No!" Bringing up her hand, three orange triangular strips flared to life. Spreading out, several green and red octagons appeared between them as her final attack was charged. "Data Drain!"

He move hit Kite solid in the chest, knocking him back a few feet. At first he yelled out but it soon turned to laughter. "Stop it! It tickles!" Slashing his hand, he destroyed the energy stream going into him and smiled sickeningly at the shocked female. "My silly girl," he taunted. "_This_ is how it's done." Bringing up his right hand, orange strips began to glow around his arm, spinning out and jumping into eight lines. Each one moved away from his arm and formed a type of shield in front of him. Between them flared green, completely filling with the same colored octagons. "Data," He met Skeith's scared eyes. "Drain."

Pain.

It was everything, everywhere. She knew she was screaming but it hurt too much to hear, hurt too much to see. It was as if her body was being torn apart from the inside out, everything being sucked from her bones. A raging inferno filled her chest, consuming her air and cutting off what was left of her pain filled scream. For the first time in her life she wished to just die, to be away from the agony. She felt part of herself be torn from her, insides crack from the force and skin tear as a result. Just as soon as it began, it stopped. Slowly she fell to her knees and looked lifelessly at Kite as she fell forward, laying in a pool of her own blood. "One down," She heard before the blissful blackness took over her. "Three to go."

* * *

Hayate: What happened to her!? What was that!? 

Yuuno: Her own move was used against her, but his was different... Perfected.

Fate: Assassin sent to kill us!? Why didn't you say anything!?

Shamal: The lightning members will be fine, they weren't hurt anywhere vital. It was almost as if he purposely tried to avoid killing them.

Subaru: And Nanoha?

Shamal: Her Jewel seed seemed to shift in her body; it caused a lot of damage.

Tia: Next time on Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha: Redemption, "The Truth Behind Truth."

Nanoha: Fate...Take this thing away from my eyes, I can't see anything.

Fate: Nanoha... Nothing is covering your eyes.


	3. Chapter 3

My entire body hurt. Everything, everywhere, even places I didn't know could _be_ hurt were throbbing. The only time I was ever in this much pain before was when I first met Aura, many years ago, when most of my bones had been destroyed. Actually now that I think about it, the thing that caused me to be in this state was much worse. I remember it happening but the pain was so great then that I couldn't even fathom it anymore despite me having gone through it. To make the worst time in my life merely the after effects, I knew it had to be bad. At least now it wasn't searing pain that made me want to cry, it was as if my entire body was bruised deeply. I knew this kind of pain, it was the result of laying in bed for a long time after Shamal had her way with me. I loved the girl so much, she was a second mother to me, but when she treated me she would always use those needles...I hate needles and I could feel an I.V. Line on the top of my right hand. First thing I would do when I could truly move again would be to take it out. She knew I would do it. I knew she knew I would do it, and if my arms were responding to me right now, it would have been done. At that moment I felt my left hand raised up and slender fingers rub my palm in a circle. It was Fate, I could tell before I smelt her, before I even heard her voice. The motion was old, always the same, always making me feel better. I knew I was smiling and the hand paused a moment before continuing. Fate's soft voice floated down to me, accusing me of being awake and requesting to know if I was okay. Her scent hit me then; she must have just freshly showered. It felt so much easier to move now, and I immediately opened my eyes at her words. It was weird for a moment; I could smell her, feel her, hear her, but for some reason I couldn't seem to _see_ her. "Fate?" My voice was a little horse, but I didn't mind. "Where are you, Fate?" She answered my question and I looked at the voice, suddenly scared again. "Fate? Take this off my eyes, I want to see you." It was quiet a moment and slowly I heard her say that nothing was covering my eyes. I trusted Fate with my life but I still removed my hand from hers and brought it to my face. I was shaking. Hard. Indeed there was nothing covering my eyes, but still I could not see. Everything was a dark inky black. No shapes, no blobs, no spots, nothing. Just black. Nothing but black. "Fate?" My voice broke. "I... I can't see, Fate." It was silent again, only a short moment, before my lover's voice screamed louder than I ever heard her before, demanding Shamal come to her straight away. "Fate?" I could feel tears start to come, my shock ending quickly. "I'm scared, Fate." Her name had always given me confidence before, even coming from my own lips. But right now, in this darkness, I felt more alone than ever. "I'm scared," I repeated, words getting weaker as more tears came. "I'm scared... Fate I'm scared..." I was being embraced, but I took no comfort. "Fate..." I was crying in earnest now, gripping her so hard I knew it hurt. "I'm so scared..."

**6th Mobile Division: Redemption III**

**By: Satashi**

"Nanoha, calm down sweetheart," Fate placed her forehead against her fiancées as spoke close to her lips. "Calm down, take a few breaths. Shamal needs to check you out okay?" She felt Nanoha take a few slow breaths and after a moment slowly nodded. "Good. I'm right here, don't worry. I have to let go of you now but I'm right beside you okay?" Again another scared nod and Fate slowly pulled away. At once the girl in the bed went stiff, losing most of the confidence she had just built up. "I'm here," The words made her calm down only slightly.

"Move your fingers for me please," Shamal requested gently, watching as the request was carried out. "Now curl your toes...Great. Can you feel this?" She lightly pinched a finger on both hands and then her feet, getting small nods. "Open your mouth, I'm going to put a magical reading thermometer in under your tongue all right?" She did open her mouth but closed it instantly when she felt something touch her lips. "Just me, Nanoha-chan, just me. Open. Open for me. Under your tongue...Thank you. Now here's the hard part. Open your eyes for me." Shamal took a penlight from her lab coat and shined it into Nanoha's bright blue eyes. "If you can see a light, follow it." She moved it to the far left and held it there. Moments later Nanoha's eyes slowly drifted that direction. "Again." She moved it above her head and held it. The girl seemed confused a moment, looking around in all directions before finally looking up and holding her gaze there. "I'm going to take the thermometer from you now." When her hand touched the device the girl jerked in surprise even though she had just been told to expect it. "You followed my light, did you see it?"

"Kind of?" Her voice was shaking. "I saw... like if your eyes are closed in the dark and someone cuts on the light, I saw that." She reached out. "Fate? You're still there right?"

"Of course." The blond took her hand instantly. "Shamal, Will she be okay?"

"I'm no specialist but it sounds like the cones in her eyes were damaged...I need to do some test."

"_Tests_!?" She almost screamed. "Screw the test, tell me if I'm going to see!" sitting up, she looked around. "Shamal! Tell me I'm going to be all right! Tell me there's some healing spell you can cast!"

"Nanoha, dear, calm down."

"I will_ not_ calm down! I can't see!" Nanoha looked around more, moving her hand and pulling the IV line from herself. "Ow!" she held her hand in shock and realized that she had just hurt herself. The room went quiet, the only sounds being the hard panting coming from the brown haired ace. "...Shamal?" She got a soft reply. "Are the lightning and stars members okay?" Again a soft confirmation. "Is anything wrong with me besides my eyes?"

"Long story, but you are okay." She looked at the thermometer in her hands. "Your linker core is half it's normal energy. I had to do surgery on you when you got back three days ago, the jewel seed grafted on your body was shifted by whatever attack hit you. It healed itself while I did whatever else I could for you but your stitches are already out."

"I want to go home." She whispered the words. "I don't want to stay here. Please, Shamal, let me go home."

"...I'll let you go if you let me take pictures of your eyes. It won't hurt, nothing will touch you."

"...Okay."

* * *

"Nanoha woke up," Yuuno said the moment he opened the door to Hayate's office. His short friend stood up immediately but he closed the door behind himself. "She's also blind. Shamal just told me." This time Hayate scrambled from the desk and ran over to the door, being caught by the male. "I already tried, they locked themselves into their apartment, right now Nanoha just wants to collect herself. Fate said Nanoha will talk to everyone later, just not right now." He allowed the girl to embrace him tightly, shivering. "Hayate... This isn't the first time someone has survived an attack from The Azure Flame, but something is different about this."

"What do you mean?" She pulled him over to the couch and sat down. "I thought he had a one hundred percent success ratio?"

"He does, or at least did, just in a different way. You see; to him 'death' is the existence without power. He lives to fight, and when he wins a battle, he doesn't take the person's life, but instead something else: Their linker core."

Hayate gasped. "You mean like I-"

"No, no!" He shook his head. "There's a difference in your ability to drain magic and this. You see, The Azure Flame actually _takes_ the linker core. Completely removes it from the person so there is no way for them to ever use magic again. The process is called "Data Draining" it seems. They named it such because he also takes all the information, or data, from the victim's device and uses it to farther better himself. Skeith used a similar attack, the principle the same: She would drain information and magic from her victim but would have to 'phase shift' into it to be able to access this power. Her version is corrupt and incomplete so she can't permanently hurt people nor does it have any ill effects on her."

"So this Flame person... Does he have ill effects."

"Yes, very bad ones." Yuuno clicked on a monitor and darkened the room. "Tri-Edge uses a very advanced type of weapon. See his twin daggers? They are actually two devices. Velkan in nature but still different."

"How so?"

"Know how we can make different levels of cartridges? Everything from small pistol bullets up to over sized shotgun shell types?"

"Of course, I just approved the advancement of the forwards to use standard rifle-type shells as their main ammunition." Hayate nodded as well.

"Well, Tri-edge uses something more powerful than our triple-S shells like the ones that Nanoha and Fate only keep one of because of their insane magic draining requirements."

"Yes, whenever they make one they sleep for an entire day... How can someone possibly make something more powerful than that?"

"He doesn't." Yuuno looked down. "Remember how I told you he steals literal Linker Cores...?"

She gaped, bringing a hand to her mouth. "He can't...?"

"He loads the core into his weapon and infuses it into his body, just like our Aces would do to keep heir barrier jackets on when inside of an AMF. We get an explosive amount of temporary magical power. He on the other hand..."

"Gets his mage rank boosted up however many levels of the core he uses..." Hayate spoke the words no louder than a whisper. "Nanoha couldn't touch him and she was unhindered by a limiter."

"I place his normal powers to be around S. Loaded with a Linker Core, say another S, he wouldn't just get SS, he would literally double his power. This enabled him to defeat Nanoha, even with her third phase shift: Skeith, which is un-officially ranked triple-S. But there's more."

"M_ore_!?" She cried out. "I can't take much more..."

"This really scares me." He fast forwarded to a certain part in the battle.

"So you too possess an avatar. This makes things interesting." Kite's voice came into the room. With a little more fast forwarding, he played it again. "We are we."

"I don't understand...?"

Yuuno turned to her. "How are you and Rein doing?"

Hayate gave him a confused look. "We're okay I guess." When he raised an eyebrow at her, it clicked. "Unison!?"

"The same as Nanoha."

"Jewel seed!?"

"An 'avatar' as he called it. Hayate, what we are fighting against isn't someone who came across a jewel seed and figured out that it was made from a human...These people _made_ the originals in their un-flawed state."

"Nanoha is a sitting duck against something like that! As soon as he realizes that Nanoha still has her linker core he'll come for her again, taking us out as well... Wait a second, you said there was a ill-effect of this?"

"Mana Burn." Yuuno smiled without humor. "Just like when someone loads a cartridge and channels it into themselves instead of their weapon. If it's not used, it makes the user sick with too much power; normally making them bed ridden for a while until their body regains it's normal magical flow. Also causes pain and discomfort. If you get that from a single shell, imagine what a core will do to you. I researched it; When Tri-Edge, The Azure Flame, Kite, whatever you want to call him, makes an assassination he isn't seen anywhere for almost a week."

"Recovering from Mana Burn?"

Yuuno nodded. "And that's when we strike."

"But Nanoha is-"

"Going to Earth with the forwards and Fate. We should go for a while as well just to make sure they get settled in and have everything they need. After that we can come back here and continue planning."

Slowly the female nodded. "Okay, let's talk more later. Thank you for the briefing. Now..." She took a long slow breath. "Too many questions... you said Nanoha was blind, right? Give me more details please."

* * *

"How are you?" Fate whispered softly, gently massaging Nanoha's back in the shower. She didn't bother with the forest illusion this time, Nanoha wouldn't be able to appreciate it anyway and she only liked it because her lover did. No answer came to her, making the blond even sadder. "I can't imagine what it's like," She tried again, weighing her words carefully in case Nanoha decided to go from sad to raging at the drop of a hat. "But I'll be here to walk with you through it all. It's all I can do, so please, if you want to cry or scream or anything I'll listen."

"Fate...?"

"Yes, Honey?"

Nanoha turned to look at her. "Are my eyes funny looking?" She felt her cheeks be embraced and Fate's nose touch hers. Seconds passed by as she was observed, holding her breath.

"No, they are still a very pretty blue, there's no telling anything at all is wrong. Even if they were, your eyes would still be lovely."

"I just realized..." She ran her hands along Fate's body, searching for her neck and then touching her cheeks as well. " I'll never be able to see your eyes again. God, Fate, I love your eyes. No one has red eyes but you, I always enjoyed looking at them... at you... at anything..." She started crying again but the spray of the showers didn't let the blond know. "Now... Now I'll never see it anymore... You, Hayate, Yuuno, Subaru, Tia, Elio, anyone, anything!" Shoulders shaking, her breath started getting heavier. "I'll never see anything anymore!"

"Don't say that!" Fate gripped her. "It isn't definite yet. You can see light, that means your not completely blind. Just wait until Shamal gives us the word. Until then, have faith. I'll take care of you every day I promise."

"I'm sorry," She tried to calm down. "I'm just so scared...I, I don't even know how to turn off this water if I wanted to... I don't know what way I'm facing...Do I walk left to get out of the shower or right? Then how do I get a towel? How do I _dress_, how can I even cook something if I'm hungry!?"

"Nanoha," She embraced her. "I'll help you. We'll get through it. We've been through a lot of things, this will be one of them we look back at years down the line and we'll be even more thankful we're together and fine then."

"How am I fine? How are the forward fine?"

"They were knocked out more than anything else," She explained softly. "He wasn't trying to kill them so a little healing magic and a day's rest set them back in shape. You, on the other hand, had two hours of surgery. I was told your jewel seed mended itself and Shamal fixed what it couldn't. Said it was a medical miracle, one we're thankful for. Do you hurt?"

"Yes, but nothing too bad. I'm weak but alive..." The conversation died off, leaving them sitting in the shower together for a few more moments before Fate reached out and cut the water off.

"Come on," She encouraged her. "Let's get you dried off and into bed."

* * *

"Earth?" Fate asked, looking back and forth between Yuuno and Hayate. "What's this all of a sudden? We have a mad man on the loose out there, we need everyone we can here! Why isn't anyone out looking for him? What if he hurts someone?" The blond shook her head amazed. "None of this is make any sense at all."

"Fate," Yuuno took a breath. "There's something you need to know. The mage Nanoha fought, Kite, is an assassin."

"What?" She instantly got deathly serious. "What do you mean assassin? As in someone payed to kill someone? Who?"

Hayate looked at the ground a moment before replying. "Us. All three here and Nanoha."

"_Why_?"

"Long story short, the U.F.Q. Took interest in the 6th division after you killed Jail Scaglietti. They wanted Hayate's leadership skills, your teaching ability, Fate's power, and my knowledge. When we turned them down they sent someone to make sure we couldn't be used against them anymore."

Fate stared at the two for a long while. "You knew this before now didn't you?" Her voice was soft, shocked. "Why? Why didn't you tell me?" Walking forward, she slammed her hand down on Hayate's desk and leaned over. "Why didn't you _tell_ me someone was trying to kill us!? If I had known I could have-"

"That's why!" Hayate yelled back at her. "Because you would have! He tossed Nanoha around like a rag-doll! There's no chance of beating him when he's like that, you could have died!"

"Better me than someone else!" Fate screamed into Hayate's face. "I had a _right_ to know!"

Hayate tried to remain calm. "If you knew Nanoha was in danger you would have flown out there to battle that very second. I couldn't risk you acting rash."

"Nanoha?" Fate hit the desk again.

"I knew you would be mad if she was in danger."

Fate's hand acted before she even realized what happened. Hayate's face jerked to the side, a loud clacking sound rang from the blond's slap. "Nanoha?" The word shook as she glared into Hayate's eyes. The short girl slowly brought a quivering hand up to touch the rapidly redding cheek. "You think I'd be upset and mad just for her? Hayate, do you value our friendship so little?" She shook off Yuuno's hand on her shoulder. "You think I'd risk my life only for her? You think I'd hear about an assassin and instantly try and protect just her? Did you even stop and _think_ for a moment that I'd want to protect _you_!? To protect _Yuuno_!?" She kept her eyes fixed on the smaller girl's. "This risked the lives of my friends, of the people I care about! Just because I'm _in_ love with Nanoha doesn't mean I don't love you as well, or Yuuno any less than that! Damn it, Hayate if anything happen to you two I would act rash alright! I would hunt him down and kill him in his sleep! I'm not mad because you kept a secret from me, I'm _pissed_ that you think I would act rashly only to protect one person who's being targeted! We should have been working on this together!"

The brown haired girl could only look down, eyes watering. The red eyed one growled walking away over to the couch, falling down on it and crossing her arms angrily. "I'm sorry," Hayate finally spoke, slowly walking over to the couch. "I heard you were being targeted, I only thought about keeping you two together. You've been through so much the past year I didn't want anything else to happen. You mean the world to me."

"If I didn't feel the same way, I'd be tempted to really hurt you," Fate told her, glaring. "Luckily I'm not hard headed so I'll forgive you on one condition."

"What's that?"

"Forgive me for slapping you."

"I deserved it." Sitting down, she gave the blond a hug and got one in return. "You could have slapped Yuuno instead tho, that really hurt."

Fate couldn't help but give a short laugh. "Okay, I'll hit him next time."

"H-hey!" The male stopped his path to the two girls, unsure if he should get near the other blond. "If it was anyone else but you, Be sure I would have hit whoever slapped her."

"It's natural to protect the ones you care about," Fate pulled away from Hayate and wiped her eyes. "Okay, this Earth thing: I refuse to go unless you come too. I'm not going to run and hide but I'll go if it means the others will stay safe."

Yuuno finally sat on the other side of Fate. "All of us will go, except the Cloud Knights. There is no record of Kite purposely harming people he has no reason to. He let the Lightning members as well as Signum and Vita off without much trouble so until we can work out a plan and let Nanoha recover it will be best to stay in a place no one will get caught in the crossfire. Once we have a plan we'll come back and toast this guy."

"Okay. Does anyone else know?"

"Only you. We wanted to wait and see how Nanoha would take it. Speaking of, will she talk to anyone yet?" Hayate twiddled her thumbs. "We're all really worried you know..."

Fate gave her a soft smile that held no happiness. "She's a wreck. Her hands are shaking really bad, I had to rub her back for almost half an hour before she went to sleep. If we could wait a while before telling her we were going to move a while I think it would be for the best."

"Three days," Yuuno answered the look Hayate gave him. "Any more than that and we could be pushing another attack."

"Okay. Well, I need to get back before Nanoha wakes up. I'll ask her if she's up to speaking to anyone and if so I'll contact you alright?" Two nods greeted her and she was walked to the door by her male friend. "Oh, and Yuuno?" She looked up and over her shoulder at him. "What I said to Hayate earlier, the same goes for you as well, I hope you know that." After a short pause he nodded at her. "Tho if it was you, I think I would have kept my fist closed instead of a slap, so watch your butt and don't make me mad anytime soon okay Babe? Good." She left then, leaving him to wonder if he had really been forgiven for his foolishness or not. The path to the residential area was made quickly, several small raindrops starting to tap onto her still slightly damp from shower hair. '_What a day to rain,_' She grumbled, shivering in the freezing cold. '_I'm probably going to have a cold now_...' Closing her door she sighed out happily as the warm air rushed over her body. Seconds later a scared voice called out her name, making Fate run to the stairs. "Nanoha? What's wrong?" The girl in the bed jerked around to the sound and reached out a hand, crying openly. "Hey, don't cry, I'm here." Fate held onto her, rubbing the girl's back as she sobbed out, trembling. "What's wrong Sweetheart?"

"I'm just...scared..." Nanoha held onto Fate tighter. "I'm sorry... I'm so sorry... I know I'm acting like a child but-"

"Nanoha, shush. You are not, don't say that. You can't see, I can't imagine what it's like but I would be terrified as well."

"I'm thirsty," She spoke against the blond's chest. "My throat hurts but... the thought of walking downstairs, even though I've done it countless times, I don't know where I'm going... How could I even pick out a soda from the refrigerator? I just... I mean...I'm so helpless."

"Shh." Fate stroked the long hair on her lover. "I'm here for you, I'll get you whatever you need so just ask. I'll hold your hand when you walk and tell you whatever you need to know. Now, let's get you a drink and we can talk. I'll be right back, don't worry." After getting a small nod Fate quickly ran to the kitchen and grabbed Nanoha's favorite soda. Back upstairs she popped the top and placed it into her hands, watching Nanoha feel around for the opening before bringing it to her lips and drinking almost half of it on the first go. "Better?" She had calmed down noticeably, no longer shivering. "Good... because I have some unpleasant news about the guy we fought...

* * *

"Okay," Fate began after taking a steadying breath. "We're being re-located for a little white," She gave the information to settle into the five people in front of them. "A very powerful mage has been hired to assassinate Hayate, Yuuno, Nanoha, and myself. Until Nanoha is in fighting condition again we are going to protect her at the relocated place. For safety reasons, as her students, you will come with us. During this time we will come up with a battle plan that more than likely will involve all of you. Also we will still be taking out mage tests so training will not be interrupted very much. However, I do realize that we have been working non-stop for almost a year now and no one has put in the allowed forty days of leave. As there are only a few months left, this will also be a little vacation for you." The students seemed pleased at hearing this, giving Fate a small twinge to the heart for lying to them. Truth be told she needed their 'time off for vacation' to translate into 'taking care of Nanoha when she wasn't available to do so'. Continuing, she finished up her speech. "Anyone have any objections as to why you can't be relocated for a little while?"

Subaru meekly raised her hand, getting nodded at for permission to speak. "Um, my sister, Ginga, is having her birthday soon... Is there any chance I can come here for one day for it? I was planning on putting in leave for that..."

Fate saw Nanoha go stiff at the request. "I'm sorry," The blond spoke after a moment. "Once we're gone we can't come back here and then go back, it could put the entire operation in jeopardy." Subaru looked down sadly but nodded anyway. "You may leave after this meeting to spend time with her if you would like?"

"Thank you, but she's currently out on a mission." The girl saluted Fate and met her eyes. "I knew when I signed up stuff like this could happen, so I'm okay with it. Thank for the kind offer."

"Anyone else then?" The enforcer pondered, smiling at Subaru's dedication. "...Okay, any questions? Elio?"

"Where will we be going? A warship?"

"Non-administrated planet ninety-seven, also known as Earth. Nanoha and Hayate's home planet. Mine too if you really get down to it; same one where we went when I asked Nanoha to marry me. We have a house there; rooming will be tight for a while but I don't want us to separate into different apartments." The blond looked at them a little longer before nodding. "Okay, that being said, we leave first thing tomorrow morning. Right now they are five hours ahead of us so once there we can get something to eat and get to out new apartment. Also it's summer time there, so pack cool clothes." She gave them another small moment and finally saw Caro looking a little uneasy. "Something wrong, Caro?"

"Um, well," She pointed to the side, where Freidliche and Shiva were seemingly talking to each other. "I can't just leave them here..."

"She has a point..." Fate whispered to herself, trying to figure out something. "They can come because you need them to train with, but you _must_ keep an eye on them. Absolutely no flying in town." She got a happy nod in reply. "Last chance for questions."

"Ma'am, what about money? If it's a non-administrated planet...?"

Nanoha spoke up for the first time. "We have two civilian collaborators who can exchange Earth money for things, don't worry about that." She could feel the people staring at her and if she hadn't just heard the voiced being spoken she would have wondered if she was even facing the right direction to speak with them. "So," She began after a moment of silence. "Dismissed." The familiar sound of heels clicking met her ears and she was sure she was being saluted. Just as she expected no sounds of idle chatter or footsteps met her ears. Taking in a steadying breath, she reached for Fate's hand and found it a few seconds later. "Staying inside won't help me," She told them. "I have to face this sooner or later, sorry for avoiding everyone the last day and so..." The questions came all at once, leaving her stammering to keep up with everyone. Fortunately Fate came to her rescue after a few moments and explained to them that Nanoha didn't really want to be bombarded all at once. After assuring them she was not in physical pain, which was a lie, they slowly departed to start preparing for the trip and leaving the two alone. "Can we go home?" Nanoha asked after a moment's silence.

"Hayate's office is close," Fate told her softly. "If you want to go back I'll take you, but if you think you can make it we really need to see them. Yuuno and Hayate are worried sick..."

"Okay." She nodded despite obviously not wanting to. "Let's go then," Taking two steps forward, she felt Fate squeeze her hand and gently pull enough to get her to stop.

"This way..." Fate almost whispered, moving so Nanoha turned so she was facing the opposite direction and lead her to a building. "Um," She stopped walking and wondered how she should go about leading her friend. "Stairs to the front door." Nanoha slowly moved forward, reaching out her foot until it touched the first step. Now with it in mind she stepped up on it.

"This isn't so hard," She told Fate, looking over to her as the two made their way up the small stairway. Before Fate could agree they made it to the top where the blind girl tried to step up again, making her over balance. Her back foot already lost it's foundation, making her toe hit the step in front of it. With a small startled cry she fell forward, getting caught by Fate before she could hit the concrete. Although it was a simple trip it seemed to really mess Nanoha up, making her pant with wide eyes.

"Nanoha... It's okay. Everyone trips on stairs, this has nothing to do with your vision."

"Yes it _does_!" She countered her, voice going into a scream without really meaning for it to. "Am I so helpless I can't even go up stairs even _with_ someone holding my hand!?" She pulled away from Fate's grip and turned to where she thought the direction for the door would be but ended up walking into the middle hand railing on the stairs and had to grip it to keep from falling over. Her eyes were still wide, gripping the metal tightly. "I'm... not even where I thought I was..." She could feel herself losing it again and quickly tried to press down the feeling. "No," She spoke her thoughts aloud in an attempt to calm herself down. "I'm strong... I'm strong... I can handle this..."

"Yes, you can." Fate told her gently, placing her hands onto Nanoha's shoulders. "You're a tough cookie, but even cookies need guidance sometimes. Take my hand." Sliding down her arm, Fate re-took her friend's fingers. "We're going this way."

"I can make it on my own..."

"You could," Fate told her, meaning it. "But I'm here with you. You can go alone when you're alone. When I'm here, I'll be with you so don't push me away."

"Fate..." She looked down, closing her eyes for a moment. Despite not being able to see she couldn't keep them closed for long and after a moment opened them back up, looking in the direction Fate would be in. "Okay, I'm ready. Sorry for the delay."

"It's not the first time we've made them wait on us," She teased back, getting Nanoha to actually smile lightly. "Let's go before it starts to rain on us again, I'm getting cold."

* * *

The day of departure came quickly for the two girls, having gone to bed a lot earlier than normal. The sun couldn't seem to find it's way through the thick winter storm clouds and gave the room a dark appearance despite being the time they normally woke up. Fate arose silently, reaching up to cut off Bardiche's beeping sound. She almost never used her alarm clock and found the the tone to really be quite annoying. With a light yawn she rubbed her eyes before stretching out widely. The house smelt like it had for the past few weeks, of gingerbread and a type of scent that Fate could only describe as 'Christmas like'. She was torn between being excited or depressed about returning to Earth for a while. On one hand she would be able to see her friends and family but on the other she would be missing the winter time here. The blond had always loved the cold and snow had a special place in her heart as it was during a snow storm that she had her first kiss. The memory made her look on her bed, realizing that the lump she thought was Nanoha was actually the body pillow her lover slept with. "Nanoha?" She asked softly, still not quite awake yet. To answer her call, the sound of shattering glass came from downstairs and a sudden cursing from her friend drifted up softly. Fate instantly crawled out of bed and made her was downstairs as fast as she could without running. "Nanoha, what's going on?" She asked as she walked into the kitchen.

"Making coffee," Came the simple reply. "Be careful, I accidentally knocked over a mug onto the floor. I'll clean it up once this starts to steep okay?" She moved her hands out on the counter in front of her, patting it every now and then as she searched. "Ah there it is," She opened the container's lid and took a long intake of air through her nose. "Yes," She confirmed aloud, reaching into the bin and taking the scooper. Several beans were loaded into her grinder but more seemed to fall onto the counter top. The blond noticed that there was coffee grins and beans scattered all over the counter as well as a few on the floor, where Nanoha's bare feet were inches away from the broken cup. "It will be ready in just a moment, so go ahead and get dressed okay Honey?" Her hands pushed the lid of the grinder down, but since it wasn't lined up properly some of the dust leaked out of it.

"Nanoha," Fate walked to stand behind her directly, watching her feel her was over to the thermos and carefully pour the grinds onto the filer above it. The motion was simple enough but in the determination to be as careful as she could the pour was slightly misplaced, ending up about a quarter of the not fine enough grinds to go onto the counter. "Here, let me do that." Her hand reached out and touched her friend's.

"_No!_" The harsh word made Fate jump back, scared. "I'm doing this!" Reaching out, she felt her way to the water pitched and winced lightly when she touched the glass containing the ripping hot water. After finding the handle she picked it up and used her free hand to feel for the thermos. Once found she gripped it and started to pour it onto her beans. "Ow!" She almost jerked when some of it flashed on her arm but she held it steady, listening as hard as she could to the sound of it being poured and stopped when it seemed it was full enough. "See? I can do this just fine!"

Fate wasn't even about to tell her she over filled it. "Nanoha, Kitten, I can just help so-"

"No!" She repeated again. "I make coffee! I do it every morning! And, and," She looked to where Fate's general area was. "You're supposed to be in bed and the smell will wake you up and I'll bring you a cup and you'll say 'Thank you Sweetheart' and I'll, I'll." She started to falter with her words.

"Yes, but I'm just saying, I can _help_."

"No!" Nanoha shook her head hard. "This is what I _do_! Fate cleans and cooks and I wake up early to get you coffee every morning! I'm not a child, I don't need my hand held! I'm not going to be a bur don to anyone, I can do this!" Moving to sit the pitcher back on the heater, she stepped to the side and onto the broken glass. The girl let out a startled cry of pain and jerked her foot up. The motion made her grab the counter to steady herself and would have knocked over the thermos steeping if Fate hadn't been there to catch it. "Ow... Ow..." Carefully she patted the counter to find the water heater and jerked her hand back when she accidentally touched the hot plate. Rearing back, she almost brought her foot down again if Fate hadn't been there to grab her. "...I... I can do this..." She said again, this time unsure of herself. "Fate needs me to do this... I'm not a child... I'm not going to be a burden...I'm not...I'm not." Her words were breaking as tears started coming down her cheeks. "I'm...Oh god..." She put the pitcher down onto the counter and simply braced herself, standing on one foot. "I-I don't even know where to step! H-How can I get the glass from my foot when I can't even move to sit down and do it!?" Choking, she bit back a sob. "I-I don't even really know where I'm standing anymore!" Turning, she looked at Fate with a hopeless expression. "I can't even make you coffee?" It was more of a statement than a question and she had given up trying not to cry.

"Nanoha..." Fate gently wrapped her arms around her and lifted, carrying her two steps to the side and sitting her onto the counter. "Let me see your foot." Moving her hands down, she kneeled and inspected the bleeding area. "I'm going to touch you all right?" She didn't wait for and answer and instead went about dabbing her finger against the blood to make the glass stick to her instead of being embedded into her friend's foot. "You have pretty feet," She spoke up after opening a cabinet to take out a small first aid kit. "I never noticed before. Why don't we go get a pedicure later? With Alisa and Suzuka?"

"You're not going to say anything about my mess?" Nanoha whispered softly. "I know I made one, and I didn't even finish your drink..."

"I'll clean it up and then we'll make coffee together." After cleaning the area she placed a bandage onto the foot. "Sit right there for a moment okay?" She kissed the top of Nanoha's foot and started putting the kit away before going to get the glass.

"Fate, say something about what I'm doing..."

"Why?" She pondered as she worked.

"Because I'm worthless... How could anyone want to take care of an adult who can't even make something to drink...?"

"Because I love her, and I'm not 'taking care of' anything," Fate told her in a caring voice. "We have to adjust to this. It doesn't have much to do with our relationship, it's more about you personally, but I'm still there." Standing up, she started cleaning the counter now. "I told you, you're not worthless. I don't love you any less if you didn't make me coffee. Such a small matter."

"That's just it," Nanoha hung her head, no longer panicking but still obviously displeased with herself. "It's such a small matter and I can't do it."

"Yet."

"Huh?"

"I said you can't do it 'yet'. After all, Nanoha makes me coffee right?" Walking over to her, she placed her hands onto the blind girl's shoulders. "We just have to adjust, won't we?" Leaning forward, she kissed her lips. "Remember when we first started living together? Was it easy?"

"Yes."

"Don't lie to me," Fate scolded. "You know it sucked." This earned her a brief fleeting smile from Nanoha. "There you go, you remember. We argued for days about cleaning, where we threw out dirty clothes, me eating in the bed, you working while I tried to sleep, me going behind you while you cooked and put your things in the dishwasher before you were done with them..." Nanoha smiled again, this time lasting longer. "Easy my ass; we changed a lot to match each other didn't we?" She got a small nod. "This isn't exactly the same, but it's close. We will adjust ourselves to match once more. You're not a burden at all, so don't think that, not even for a moment."

"But... How can I-?"

"I'll help you. We'll learn how to do things, we'll put things in a specific place so you'll always know where everything is, we'll get voice activated stuff as well so you can use that, we'll... do lots of things. Yuuno can research it for us, after all many many people live alone that are blind and have great lives. If anything, I'll burden _you_ sometimes by not putting things in the proper place."

"You're never a burden!" Nanoha countered instantly, making Fate smile at her. "I love Fate! You could never burden me!"

"And I feel the same for you," Leaning over, she touched her cheeks. "I'm going to kiss you again, okay?"

"Never ask," She managed out before Fate moved to stand between her legs and hug her. Their lips met softly at first but picked up at Fate's insistence.

"Okay," she breathed out after a minute or two of frenching each other. "We have to stop before I get carried away."

Nanoha smiled to herself, this time feeling it. "Thank you."

"For what Honey? Being myself? No need to thank me for that is there?"

"I don't deserve you."

"Well we could argue for hours on which one of us deserves which, but instead how about we make some coffee?"

"But I just tried-"

"Nanoha," The word made the other girl stop talking. "I said 'how about _we_ make some coffee' didn't I?"

"...Fate..." Reaching up, she wiped her eyes quickly, giving the blond a large happy smile. "Yeah! Let's do it together."

"Okay, so..." She looked around, suddenly realizing how helpless she was. "What do I do first?"

"Open the cabinet above the stove and get out the filters..." She instructed, swaying her feet since she was sitting on the counter. "Now get the grinder and-" She smiled as the instructions were given.

* * *

"Ready?" Nanoha asked, cuddling up next to Fate as she was guided to the teleporting area. The harsh wind blew around them, making everyone shiver. "Man it will be _great_ to be in warm weather again!"

Hayate looked at Nanoha a moment before turning to Fate and receiving a cheerful nod. "Alright then!" She told everyone around them, mood suddenly boosted by knowing her friend was doing better about her condition. "Let's go to Earth!"

* * *

Next Time...

Fate: Oh sweet merciful Elune, I forgot how _hot_ it was here in the summer!

Nanoha: Oh shush, it feels great!

Subaru: Hey,hey, Tia! Let's go explore the town together!

Elio: Eh? Three days off for a vacation? Seriously!?

Lutecia: Elio, let's go on a date?

Caro: No fair, I want to go too!

Hayate: Let's... Get to our house first at least...

Fate: Arf! Mother! I missed you!

Yuuno: Next time on Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha's 6th Division Redemption: "Riot Force Six's Vacation!"

Hayate: While everyone is having fun, let's plan our strategy...


	4. Chapter 4

I was never one to wait impatiently for a phone call because normally it meant that someone was hurt in one way or another. This time, however, I have been waiting for three days while holding my breath every time a monitor appeared in front of me. The moment I finished taking photos of Nanoha's eyes and released her from in infantry I contacted one of my friends who specialized in visual care. Ironically it was the same person who I spoke to when getting Nanoha's glasses made. Back then I only gave him the prescription since she refused to let me do anything other than get her what she needed. I was told he would examine the pictures for me and tell me more details as soon as he could. Although honestly I wanted him to get back to me in a day's time or so because I was extremely worried but I also knew that he was a busy man and was already going out of his way for me. With a sigh I closed my eyes and took a long drink of the hot spiced tea in my mug. A familiar beeping sound caught my attention and I turned to look at the floating monitor next to me, displaying the name 'Claude C. Kennedy'. It took everything to not spill my drink on myself when I hastily went to answer the call. "Claude-kun!" I greeted, barely containing myself. "Do you have any news about the patient I sent images of?" I felt bad for not greeting him properly but Nanoha was already gone to Earth now and the time I had to make sure she was ready for battle again was already wearing thin.

**6th Mobile Division: Redemption IV**

**By: Satashi**

Claude smiled without humor. "Shamal-kun, you said that this girl was recently blinded in an attack?" After getting a nod he continued while sending several images towards the female at the same time. "Yes, it has confused all of us. I had to get a second and third opinion, we've never seen anything like this before." On the woman's side several monitors appeared around her, each displaying some of the images and X-rays of Nanoha's eyes. "What you sent me clearly revealed damaged rods and cones, the very things that makes the eye perceive color and light. However... It also shows that this has been damaged for several years now, not recently done."

"But she could see just fine up until this incident?"

"Yes, that's what you said in your report and that's what confused all of us. You see, right here," A specific image went in front of both of them and he pointed. "This shows that the cones are dead, having been destroyed. There is scar tissue around them, but at the same time, there is something else, something we can't place. Compare your patient to a healthy eye," Several more images came up. "Notice anything?"

Shamal leaned forward, observing. "Yes, Nanoha-chan's eyes have some type of fog all over them... I thought that was just my equipment?"

"No, this is something that none of us have ever seen. It's highly resembles magical healing on eyes, which you know was banned by the health government because of the risk of causing brain damage..."

"I didn't do anything," She defended herself. "I don't even know _how_."

"I wasn't implying you was, I was just saying," Claude soothed her. "The point is, this girl has been blind for several years. Whatever allowed her to see seems to be gone now, as if it was moved away from her."

"Moved..." Shamal went silent a moment, recalling the operation on her. "...The Jewel seed moved inside her body..." She gasped. "Back then, when she was healed!"

"I'm sorry?" The man looked confused.

"It's a dreadfully long story, and classified top secret... Can I ask for you to stay quiet about this from now on? Don't let anyone else know please."

"...Okay, Shamal-kun. I'll cover myself, should I keep investigating?"

"Yes, please, by all means... I will as well, I'll contact you as soon as I find out something. But tell me this, if she stays the way she is, will she recover normally?"

"It's a miracle she could see at all, so unless the miracle comes back I'm sorry to say she will be blind for life."

"...I see, thank you for your time. I'll get you a budget increase for helping me..."

"Shamal-kun, this girl obviously means a lot to you. I don't need a bribe to continue researching this. All you need to do is ask." He smiled at her. "I'll stay in touch." With that the screen cut off.

The doctor put her forehead against her palm and leaned forward. "She lost her vision back then...Skeith was allowing her to see by grafting herself into her eyes... If the jewel seed is no longer able to do that...Does that mean it died while trying to heal Nanoha during the operation? Or maybe just out of magic?" Shamal bit her thumbnail on her free hand. "The only way to know is to get her to phase shift into her Skeith form but not even Nanoha can do that on her own; she has to have her life threatened before Skeith awakens inside her... This just got a lot more complicated."

* * *

"I'm really not enjoying this," Nanoha spoke up as she gripped Fate's hand tighter. "I'm really, _really_ not enjoying this..." They were sitting on a bus and for the first time Nanoha had absolutely no idea of even the general area where she was.

"It'll be okay Sweetheart," Fate soothed her as best she could. "You'll feel better once we get to Suzuka's house."

"Where are we?" She asked for the tenth time since they boarded the bus.

"Ummm, almost there, we've been out of the city for a bit now so it shouldn't be too much longer." Fate looked out the window. "Actually, I see her house, we're going to get off in just a moment." Just as she started, Hayate reached up and pushed the request stop button. The vehicle slowed down as per request and soon stopped outside of the gates leading to the mansion. "Come on, let's get off." Standing, she allowed both of her hands to move behind herself and felt each one being taken by her friend. "Stepping down, three times. There you go." As soon as the bus took off she allowed Nanoha to stand beside her and felt very proud of her for not clinging at her side like she thought would happen. "Wow, havn't been here for a while have we?"

"You said it," Yuuno replied absently. "I keep forgetting how rich our friends are..."

"Have I ever mentioned I feel awful doing things like this?" Hayate pondered aloud as she pushed the intercom button next to the gate. Seconds passed before she pushed it again, this time getting a response. "We're friends of Suzuka-chan," She spoke into the device. "We're here on a surprise visit." The gate opened to them and the four made their way down the long driveway. "Walking for five minutes just to reach the door. I wonder if I'll ever get a house like this."

"A forward room is all I need," Yuuno spoke his thoughts aloud.

Nanoha laughed at that. "Yeah but you stay at everyone else's place all the time so it doesn't really matter."

"Hey," Hayate came to his defense. "I invite him over all the time, he's not just lounging."

"Sure, sure," Fate smirked at her friend, getting a quick blush before Hayate turned on her. "I wonder what she will say when we get there?" Upon reaching the door they only had to knock once before it was opened by a maid. The small group was ushered in and only had to wait a few moments before a startled cry met their ears. "Suzuka!" Fate smiled brightly at her friend and opened her arms when she was ran to and hugged. "I missed you too!"

"What are you doing here?" She asked happily, quickly going to the others for a hug as well. "It's been half a year! And oh my _god_, Fate you cut your hair!"

"Some things have come up," Hayate told her nervously. "We're half here on business, half for fun..."

"We'll get to business later!" She waved it off. "I understand how hard it must be sometimes. Nanoha, stop standing there, come hug me!"

"... How about you come hug me instead?" She asked, a smile still on her face as she held out her arms. "Come on!" Her wish was granted and the two life long friends gripped each other tightly.

"How are you?" She asked her softly. "Staying out of trouble right? Nothing dangerous?"

Nanoha thought back on the question. The abduction of her forward along with the forest set up. Matching it came her almost breaking Fate's neck while she hung herself. To top it off they had done a mission with a two percent chance of survival. Fate was thought dead and ended up losing all her memories for a while. Finally she had her butt kicked by some un-known assassin who was trying to kill them all. "Nothing out of the ordinary," She told her friend shyly. "But there's one small thing..."

"What?" She seemed to lose the cheerfulness at the sudden silence. "Nanoha? You're scaring me, what's wrong?"

"She's blind," Fate whispered, feeling her heart tighten at the sudden shock on her friend's face. "For a few days now."

"Please don't make a big deal," Nanoha asked of her friend as she was hugged again. "I can handle this as long as I don't have to repeat the same thing over and over and over..."

"Okay, okay." Her voiced sounded as if she was anything _but_ okay with not asking her questions. "You said half business? Is something going on?"

"Actually..." Hayate began, looking ashamed at what she was about to ask.

* * *

"Is this it?" Subaru pondered as they looked at the two story house in front of them. "It's big..."

"Fate-san said they used it as a base for several years for any activity happening around this area. Actually, didn't she say that she lived here for a long time?"

Elio nodded. "I've been here before, we used it as a summer house for vacation time." Walking up to the house he kneeled down and lifted a small fake rock to take out a key from under it. "There's a special way to get in, to protect it from being robbed while it's not in use," He explained to them, slipping in the key and pressing his palm against the large doorbell. After a moment the door clicked open and allowed them entrance. "A key to turn on the program and once activated it swaps to Midchilda style locks."

"A hand scanner," Tia mused, inspecting it. "This planet is only bottom mid-level technologically right? This kind of thing isn't normal around here is it?"

"Mm," He agreed as they walked in. "Wow, it's amazingly clean."

"Because I cleaned up," A new voice stated, making everyone turn to a small girl with dog ears and tail. "You got here sooner than I thought, I was napping and heard you come in."

"Arf-san!" Caro and Elio ran forward to greet the child excitedly. "How have you been!?"

"Great," Arf hugged the each in turn before greeting the others, who she had only met twice before. Despite having to ask Lutecia's name again she still welcomed the purple haired one into the house and started leading them. "This is really just a summer house used for gatherings, so make yourself right at home since you're not 'invading' anyone's house." She pointed around. "Kitchen is over there, living room here, obviously, over there is a half-bath. Dining room through there," She moved her small hand as she spoke, guiding them to the stairs. "I'll show you your rooms for now so you ca get unpacked. Fate's room is here, Stars members here next to it, Lightning is here, and Hayate's is across the hall." The puppy-girl crossed her arms and nodded to herself. "You can stick to that or change if you wish. Sorry to crowd you like that but we're jamming several people in this house. Lindy is coming as well so probably end up using the fold down couch as well."

"Cramped, as al_ways_." Elio clamped his hand over his mouth quickly.

"See!?" Subaru declared while pointing at him. "His voice cracked again!"

"It did _not_" Elio protested, falling prey to his voice squeaking again. "Ugh..."

"Aw, Elio is becoming a man!" Tia leaned over and grinned at him. "Congratulations."

Elio looked away in embarrassment. "Don't read too far into it..."

Subaru put a finger to her chin. "But isn't eleven years old too early for that? He just had his birthday..."

Arf laughed. "Guess he matures fast for his age."

Elio walked into a room and flicked the switch on. "Many memories here..." He spoke aloud, trying to change the topic onto anything but him hitting puberty.

Caro followed him in along with Lutecia. "How many times have you been here?" She pondered, liking the chance to learn something new about her knight.

"Probably been here a good two months total. Few days here, few days there. Lots of swapping before a steady home." he tossed his duffel bag down and started unloading it into the empty drawers. "As Arf-san said, no one lives here so everything is empty. Claim a spot and go with it. I'll sleep on the floor you two can have the bed."

"No!" Caro instantly countered him. "Elio can have the bed."

"Caro-hime..." He was going to protest but Lutecia eyed him, clearly telling him her thoughts before he could speak his own. "...How about we take turns...?"

Across the hall Tia looked around the empty room after dropping her bag onto the ground. "Not too shabby," She mused. "About the same size as the forward rooms really, maybe a little smaller, but for a actual one person room it's really nice."

"Ah, a water bed!" Subaru yelled out, startled as she fell back onto it. "How cool!"

"Ugh, I'm never going to get any sleep." Tia face-palmed.

"Why is that?" She wondered as she made waves and giggled as her body rocked.

"Because you can't stay still for a minute when sleeping and I'm going to get seasick from the motion..."

* * *

"And that brings us up to today," Hayate finally finished and allowed herself to drink from the teacup in front of her for the first time since she began telling the story. "So we decided on Earth instead of a T.SA.B alliance planet. We wanted to see everyone again even if it meant being in a tight spot for a while." She gave Suzuka a small helpless smile. "Could you possibly collaborate with us again for a short time? I promise you'll get more than you invest!"

"Hayate-chan!" Suzuka looked offended. "You know good and well I don't need anything in return! What can I do for you? Lodging? Need money? Transpiration? All of the above?"

"I would love to stay with you but even if the risk of us being tracked here are less than one percent we can't take that chance..."

The purple haired girl waved it off. "Don't worry, you can't stay here but we can still be together as long as you're not seen going in and out of my house at night, got you. Well then, let's get this out of the way so we can have fun." Reaching into her purse, she took out her checkbook. Her pen hovered slightly above the pages. "Actually..." Looking up she smiled. "This could actually work out really well for me. You see, I'm planning on going into college soon but the best places for engineering aren't in Japan. I need to learn a new language and once you go so far you have to fly anyway to come back home..." Her voice trailed off with a light smile on her lips.

"What, come to Midchilda?" Nanoha asked quickly. "But your family, your friends, your-"

"My family isn't home much you know that Nanoha-chan. As for my friends, my only close one is Arisa-chan and she wants to move there as well. I want to reclaim you four as my close friends again, no more of this seeing each other three times in... how many years?" Suzuka frowned. "I miss you. All of you."

Fate softened, moving over to hug her. "We miss you too, but the paperwork and things needed... and your money can't transfer because this isn't a T.S.A.B governed planet."

Hayate finally caught what was going on. "You want to trade money with us on earth for Midchilda credit don't you!?" She received a peace sign, making Hayate laugh. "And as a collaborator your terms are permission for you and your friend to move to our planet?" Again another happy nod. "Mou... What am I going to do with you?"

"Preferably say I can transfer a lot of money so I can get a good start on a new planet."

* * *

"Five thousand dollars?" Yuuno asked in shock as he got in the passenger seat of the van. "Hayate, how in the world are you going to write that off!?"

The brown haired girl laughed, getting in to drive after touching the door handle before Fate could to claim it. "Government gives a certain amount of money for issued protection and since we're all military it's higher. Add in the fact there are nine of us and we have a large amount we can draw from. That and the fact that a twelve pack of soda cost almost five dollars here and only two on Midchilda, she basically doubled her investment. She won't be rich anymore but she will have more than enough to move and start her college on Midchilda... Although the sheer amount of paperwork I'm going to have to do to allow the transfer is already giving me a headache."

"Anyway, where to now? Arisa won't be home until late tonight." Nanoha thought aloud. "Back to the house?"

"Don't you want to see your family?" Yuuno turned around to look at the couple in the middle row of seats. "It's been half a year since you two last saw them."

Nanoha turned her head, appearing as if she was gazing out the van window. "We have more important things to set up right now."

Fate closed her eyes a moment before speak. "Hayate, head to Nanoha's house. Drop us off please."

"Fate, I _just_ said-"

"Nanoha be quiet." Fate spoke firmly. "We're going and that's final. I'm not going to let you avoid your family after you told me not a week ago that you wanted to ask for leave time to see them again."

"But-"

"No buts. It will be hard at first but after it's over and you can be with them every day while we're here it will be worth it."

Hayate smiled to herself, driving them back into town. "I guess that's what they call 'tough love' huh?" In the back seat she heard Nanoha mutter something about Fate being mean. "Those two... I swear, they never change do they?" Several minutes passed by in comfortable silence with the radio filling in for the lack of conversation. After what seemed like no time at all Hayate pulled up to Nanoha's old house and looked at it with fond memories of after school snacks and sleepovers. "We're here. Should we pick you two up later after everything is situated?"

Fate looked over at Nanoha and gripped her shaking hand. "We'll probably end up staying the night. I can use Bardiche to contact you at the house since it has the M2D installed, I have the frequency stored already. Take care of things for me all right? Tell Arf that I'll spend tomorrow with her as well if you would?" She got two nods before the sliding door opened, allowing the two to slip out of the van and look at the quiet house. "Nanoha, sorry to do this to you, but you'll thank me, I promise." The brown haired girl nodded her head nervously and swallowed. "Wow you look really nervous..."

"Gee Fate, telling my family that worries about me all the time about being military that 'Hey! I'm suddenly blind and helpless but still going to work there!' wouldn't make anyone at all nervous would it!?" She shook as she heard the van pulling away. "Fate I can't do this; I just can't! I can deal when I don't have to talk about it but when people start asking questions it just hits me all over again and-"

"Shhh," Putting an arm around the girl she lead her to the gate and through it. "You can't avoid your family Honey." Reaching up she rang the doorbell.

"I hate you..." She was already starting to cry. "Fate how can you do this to me...?" Before the blond could reply the door opened and the familiar voice of her mother greeted the two. All at once she was pulled into a hug and was fussed over happily. "Mom," She couldn't continue, instead hugging her mother closer and trying not to cry. Momoko looked over at Fate questioningly a moment before getting an answer.

"Can we come in? Everyone needs to be together for this." Fate was ushered inside while Nanoha still clung to her mother. "Hello, Shiro-san." She bowed lightly to the older man before getting a hug for herself. "Sorry to drop by unannounced."

"You're _always_ welcome!" He told her happily. "What brings you two to this planet? Hey, What's wrong with Nanoha?" Moving over to the two females he hugged his daughter. "Nanoha?"

"Um," Fate got their attention back on her. "Miyuki-san and Kyoya-san?"

"At the coffee shop," Momoko guided Nanoha over to the couch and gave her an odd look when she stumbled after almost tripping over the small table. "Did something happen?"

Fate, seeing her lover about to lose anything she had left, took the matter into her own hands. "Well, you see, Long story short we turned down a merger offer with some really cruel people. After this they sent assassins after us to be sure we couldn't be used against them if we weren't going to be _with_ them," Holding up her hand, she cut off any interruptions. "Nanoha fought one of them and well... lost. She was hit by an attack and as a result she lost her vision." The silence that hung in the air was thick.

Nanoha spoke first as she pulled away from Momoko. "I'm making it all right," She told them as she tried her best to steady herself. "My friends are there with me and-" She was cut off by a sudden hug again from both parents. Several words mixed together and questions running in on each other.

"Um!" Fate spoke loudly to get them to look at her again. "Please, I know it's hard but let me answer the questions for you. Nanoha get upset when she has to talk about it... I don't want to see her cry..."

* * *

"Tell me we're not lost." Subaru requested as she and Tia walked down the streets of the unfamiliar city. When nothing came to her call she looked over at the orange haired girl seemed nervous. "Oh great..."

"We're not lost!" Tia denied furiously. "We can call and get directions back!"

"Our devices rely on the M2D for communications between each other."

"Then we'll contact the M2D at the house!"

"Did you store the frequency number while we were there?"

Tia looked dejected a moment before trying again. "We can ask for directions to the house itself."

"I don't know the address, do you?"

"You're not helping!"

Subaru winced. "Don't yell at me..."

With a sigh the gunslinger looked around. "Sorry, I'm just annoyed. I _told_ them I didn't want to go shopping. We don't even know what a few of these things _are_. Seriously... Why didn't they just let the Lightning members do it, Lutecia asked Elio on a date anyway." The girl looked down at the plastic bag she was carrying and sighed once again. "I felt so embarrassed having to ask a clerk for the items. He looked at us like we were stupid and when we told him we weren't originally from this planet it only got worse."

Her partner laughed uneasily. "Sorry, I forgot that this place didn't have inter-planet transportation." Looking around some more she grinned. "Hard to believe that three Aces of the T.S.A.B all came from this run-down little planet isn't it?" The two shared a laugh at the thought. "Hey look! A cake shop!" Without waiting for a response Subaru ran ahead and looked in the window. "Midori café huh?" She mused at the different things in the window. "Tia-Tia! Let's have some!"

"Subaru, you know we shouldn't. We will have lunch when we get back to the house and besides, eating too much strange food will give you a tummy ache." They didn't even have any earth money as it was anyway.

"It's cake, it's not foreign!" She protested. "We have similar things on Midchilda it can't be _that_ different!" Moving to walk into the store she smiled at her friend. "Besides, what could go wrong with a little cake?" Just as she pushed open the door three figures turned around and ran at her with knives. Her body acted before her mind even took in the situation by grabbing the first man's arm to lead the knife away from her vital points. With a slight turn she threw him over her shoulder and onto the ground before slamming her fist into his stomach roughly. "What the hell!?"

"They just robbed the store!" One of the people cried out as a male from behind the counter leapt over the separator and over to them.

"Subdue him I'll get the others!" Tia darted out the door and gave chase to the two men running from her. "Stop running!" She warned them as cross mirage came to her right hand. "Last chance! Stop running or you'll be persecuted to the full extent of the law!" The two men continued to run from her despite the protest. '_Ugh, fine we'll do it the hard way._' The gunslinger doubled her pace as she pushed through the streets crowded with people. The two seemed to be running almost side by side but still one of them was starting to fall behind slightly. With the slower one in sight a plan formed inside of her head. Leaning forward she prepared herself before jumping and used a boost from what little flight she could muster. Her barrier Jacket flared to life as she went on the offensive, one foot lashing out and catching the man on the back of his knee. Tia grabbed the back of the man's head as he fell and went with him, slamming his forehead onto the concrete and rendering him unconscious. Not stopping there she sprang into a forward flip from her one handed cartwheel and landed her her feet once again. "I'll shoot if you don't stop!" Her words clearly scared the man as the gun trained on him. "Cross mirage, civilian mode!" She received a confirmation and narrowed her eyes, firing once. The man fell all as the stunning bullet slammed into his back. Once she caught up to him she slid down and grabbed the back of his neck to haul him to his feet. "Just had to run didn't you?"

"What's going on here?" A uniformed policeman ran onto the scene and looked at the girl holding a man. Seeing her weapon he pulled his own and trained it on them. "Stand with your hands above your head."

"These people robbed a store." Tia told him casually as she holstered her gun at her waist. "There's one more behind me and another at the store itself, my partner has him." Reaching back, she took out Cross Mirage's card and showed him her I.D. "Tiana Lanster of Riot Force Six here on vacation." Before he could fully inspect the card she flipped it shut and slid it into her pocket. "I'll show you back to the other, can you handcuff them?"

Subaru looked up as Tia entered the café and waved to her. "Ya-ho! Get them both?" She seemed happy despite what had just happened. "Tia-Tia, they offered us all the cake we could eat for stopping them, isn't that great!?"

"Stop with the pet names," She protested lightly as the officer cuffed the third and final man. Seeing the man who had given chase she tossed him the bag of money. "Here, It's all I saw on them."

"Thank you," He looked in it and nodded. "Looks like all of it. Sorry, I was going to try and stop them myself but I was afraid they would hurt some of the people here..." His eyes looked to the side where a few elderly people were sitting, obviously shaken from the ordeal. "Please, stay and have something to eat?"

"I could go for a drink if you don't mind? Oh! And if you could, could you give us directions? We're kind of lost..." Tia scratched her cheek and left it to the man to get them their request after putting the money back into the cash register. His female work partner wrapped the rest up with the police before coming over to them as well.

"Hello," She greeted them with a small bow. "Thank you very much for the help." The two tried to wave it off as part of their job. "You two are police?"

"Military," Subaru told her without thinking about it. "We're the forwards of Riot Force Six under Nanoha Takamachi."

The girl gasped. "Section Six!? Nanoha!?" She pointed at them, trying hard to remember their names. Having only met them once before it took her a moment to recall the information. "Subaru-san and Tia-san!?"

It clicked for both of them at the same time. "Miyuki-san!?" The orange haired one spoke first, getting a nod. "Midori Café... Nanoha's family's store... What are the odds..."

"Apparently really good." Kyoya joined in, setting down a plate that had several sampler pieces of cake as well as iced tea for both of them. "What are you two doing here?"

Miyuki nodded. "And is Nanoha here as well!?"

The two looked at each other, wondering just how much they should reveal.

* * *

Nanoha sat down on the bed slowly, keeping the towel around herself just under her arms. Her hair was still damp, also kept in a folded turban type deal with a bright yellow towel as well. "Fate?" She asked softly, getting a small hum. "What are you doing?" She knew the answer but asked it anyway in an attempt to break the ice.

"Installing the M2D device for this house," She replied absently while looking at the instructions. "Yuuno was supposed to do it but was caught up at our house so I'm doing it instead." After nodding to her self she pushed a few more buttons on the suitcase sized box. "I think this should work... We will be able to route the transmission through patrolling warships and contact Midchilda now but there will be a five to ten second delay and bad signal quality. At least that's what Yuuno said. At least while we're here we can contact the house and back any time we want with no ill effects." She closed the device and slid it under the bed before raising her hands up. "Computer, display main menu." To her call a screen came in front of her requesting the specifics of the house and profiles. "Good, I'll show Momoko how to handle this later on. Computer, close windows and set up upon next opening." A small beep greeted her and she sat on the bed behind her fiancée. "How was your bath?"

"Horrible," She spoke softly, rubbing her hands together. "Mom freaked out about my injuries and I tried to hide the scars on my back but she saw them anyway. I hate when they worry about me. I'm a-"

"Tough cookie," Fate finished for her with a smile. "They will learn that eventually don't worry." Moving around, she placed her hands on Nanoha's shoulders and removed the towel. "They are healing nicely actually. I packed the healing bandages I requested from Shamal, so let me wrap you up right fast okay?" Without getting a reply Nanoha simply lifted her arms. Fate slowly moved them around Nanoha's body and snipped the end to snap it together. "There, it's a little cold I'm sure, but stick with it okay?" She was answered in silence again, making her nervously try and bring up a new topic. "So, here we are on Earth again... want to get some ice cream tomorrow?"

"Fate," The word came out softly but it was enough to make the blond stop rambling. "I'm sorry."

"For what?"

"I said such a hateful thing to you." Closing her eyes, she looked down. "Now that I'm here and have been with my family for a while...Even though it was hard at first and the hugs my brother and sister gave me really hurt... I'm glad I did it... so glad... I was going to stay here the entire time and not let them know I was hurt but... You know me so well and forced me here even though you knew I would be mad at you for it... and I said that earlier... I'm sorry. I love you."

"I know," Fate sat down next to her and placed an arm around the girl's shoulders. "You was just upset-"

"That's not the point!" Her words got harder, once again making Fate go silent. "I said such a bad thing."

"It's not the first time either of us said that, silly." Fate comforted her with a gently squeeze. "Remember that time when we first started living together and I was so mad at you for leaving your stuff everywhere after I just finished cleaning? And you were mad at me because I picked out curtains and matching things without consulting you?" Nanoha smiled to herself at the memory. "I threw that pillow at you and you tossed one back and we ended up screaming at each other how it wouldn't work out living together... Oh man that sucked. I slept on the couch that night and we both said we hated each other before turning out the lights... And what happened the next morning?"

"It was the first time I made you breakfast," Nanoha recalled it. "And we apologized for what we did...you took back what you bought even though I said not to..."

"And the world goes on and we got closer for it, huh?" Fate leaned over and kissed Nanoha's cheek.

"Fate... I'm so sorry. I'm fine one moment and the next I break down and you comfort me just to do it over again. I'm like a broken record but I don't mean to be."

"Shush. I understand. Just tell me anything you want to."

Nanoha leaned over against her. "Am I unfit to take care of Caro-chan?"

"No," the enforcer shook her head despite Nanoha not being able to see her. "For various reasons that I could list off but you wouldn't really listen to them anyway right now. Just know that you wouldn't be a bad mother. You being worried about it is proof enough." A small silence passed by yet again. "Anything else?"

The brown haired girl shook her head. "No, I'm okay. I want to get over this, it's been a few days now already. Let's get some sleep?" She felt her hair be freed and finger combed lightly. "Thank you."

"I'll get your night shirt, lift your arms up?" Nanoha did as requested and was clothed a few moments later. The covers were pulled back and the two slid under them, curling up against each other. "You know," Fate spoke up again. "We don't cuddle near enough in bed."

"Because you always move away from me."

"Because you snore."

Nanoha smiled to herself, for once not denying it. "I love you Fate." She heard her friend reply in kind and closed her eyes, drifting off peacefully in the rare treat of being embraced from behind.

* * *

Elio yawned loudly as he stretched out on the couch. "I'm turning in," He announced to the large group of people in the living room. Several people waved at him before turning their attention back to the conversation at hand. The young male walked to the stairs and went up them while suppressing another yawn. Upon reaching the room he was staying in he opened the door and stepped though it lazily. In front of him he saw Lutecia standing in only a pair of purple panties with a nightshirt above her head in mid dressing. "Ah..." His mind stopped briefly, knowing he should leave but finding his eyes dropping against his will to take in her body for a few precious seconds before she was covered properly. "Sorry... I should have knocked... or something..."

"I don't mind," She told him as she sat on the bed and looked out the window. "It's healthy for a boy."

Closing the door he stepped into the room. "But still... sorry. I thought you was already asleep."

"I decided to shower first," She informed him as if he couldn't guess from her slightly damp mass of hair. Currently it was frizzy and wild, straying all over the place without a care. "Come," She pet the bed next to her and leaned against him when he sat on the bed. "We havn't been alone together in a while, have we?"

"I guess not. It's weird thinking back on it. You stayed in my room all the time to keep me company then."

"Mm..." Lutecia looked over at him. "I still can't believe you stayed with me after everything..."

"I told you I would," He informed her with a light smile. "How could I just leave you, Lutecia?"

"Elio..." She moved slowly, placing her hands onto his shoulders and pushing him down onto the bed. "Can I... still not get a pet name from you?" She looked at him with sad eyes. "Can I not be your princess?"

"Lutecia," He closed his eyes and thought. "Lulu." He declared at her finally. "I'm going to call you Lulu." He felt her breath close to his face and suddenly had a strange desire creeping up from his stomach. "Um," He opened his eyes to look right into hers as she rested her forehead against his. "Lulu...?"

"Yes?" She laid her body on top of his. "What is it, Eli-chan?" She came up with a cute name for him on the spot.

"This... I don't really..."

"Do you want me to move?" The male looked at her a long while, not being able to find an answer to the simple question. "Can I... kiss you?" Again he couldn't seem to answer her, allowing the girl to close her eyes and lean over the rest of the way and awkwardly put her lips on his. Not sure about how to go about it, she pulled back enough to collect herself and try again, this time almost doing it properly.

A loud gasp made them both pull apart and look towards the door where Caro had a hand over her mouth. "Caro-hime!" Elio looked at her a moment before looking back at Lutecia. "This is..."

"Elio you idiot!" With those words she turned and slammed the door.

"I..." He looked away sadly.

"Go," Lutecia told him softly, making him look at her. "I want you to myself," She began her explanation, falling back into the habit of touching his cheek gently. "But Caro-chan is my friend and you are still unsure... So please, talk to her and tell her I was the one who did it."

"Lulu?"

"Go, before I change my mind." Moving off of him, she gave the boy a small nudge. Taking the chance he ran away from her and through the door, calling out to his princess. '_Stupid..._' She scolded herself as she touched the warm spot on the bed where he just was. '_Why can't this just be simple...? He belonged to her first._' She fell onto the bed and buried her face into the pillow sadly. '_Am I just an annoyance to them both? But he kissed me back..._' With a small sigh she curled up on the bed and faced the wall. '_I wanted you to stay with me instead of chasing her...'_

Elio opened the sliding door leading out to the balcony and stepped into the warm night. "Caro-hime?" He asked softly, walking over to her. "I..."

"You can see stars here," She spoke up suddenly. "It's kind of weird isn't it? Earth only having one moon I mean. It makes the nights a lot darker so there are more streetlights around here. I wonder if that's why there is a weird feeling in the air on this planet. So much power being ran everywhere by such weird methods."

The red head stood next to her and leaned onto the rail as well. "Could be."

Standing in silence, the two looked around the sky. "Do you like her?" She finally spoke up on the topic he had come for. "I understand, she's very pretty."

"I don't know," He told her truthfully. "I feel something for her, but it's there for you too. I think of you each the same."

"Oh?" She turned to look at him and almost made the boy jump back at the sudden gentle look. "Then will you kiss me too?"

"Kiss?" He looked nervous. "Caro-hime, that in there just happened _and_" He growled as his voice broke yet again.

"I don't mind," She told him while stepping forward and reaching her hands up behind his neck. "Is this how it goes?" Leaning up on her tiptoes she flecked his lips lightly in a testing manor. Once done she kissed him fully, leaving her mouth on his for a full four seconds before pulling back. "Wow, it really does make your heart beat fast."

Elio swallowed, feeling the strange sensation in his gut again. "Caro-hime...?" She looked up at him happily.

"Yes, my dragoon?" She whispered, feeling her heart beat faster than it currently was. "...Another?"

"I..." Moving down, he wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her closer a moment before stopping and moving away. "I... don't know what I'm doing." He confessed to her. "I feel strange, my body is trying to get me to do things that I- I don't even know how to _do_!"

"It's okay, I don't want anything else." She smiled up at him happily. "I feel safe now, just knowing you kissed me. Strange isn't it? How such a simple act can make you feel all funny inside?"

"Y-yeah. Strange, huh?"

"Ne?" She met his eyes again. "Between Lutecia-chan and myself... I can wait until you're ready. I'm not even sure about what's going on right now but Lutecia-chan seems to... So... So I'll try my best! I like Elio-kun, so I'll find out what I'm feeling!So please... Please think about me too? I want to explore this with you. I want to find out what is going on... I know we're young but we're already living in an adult life."

"Yeah," He nodded at her. "I'll find out what's going on, what it is I'm feeling as well. Someday I'll be sure of myself but right now I'm just learning. Please wait for me as well?"

"I will." She blushed up at him. "Wow, I feel so grown up all of a sudden." The remark made Elio crack a smile at her. "Well then... I'll go talk to Lutecia-chan. Give me five minutes to settle things?"

"Sure." Elio walked with her back into the house and gave Subaru a small wave when she passed by him. "Hey Subaru-san," He greeted nervously at the look he was getting.

"Hello Elio," She replied in kind while bending over to be on more eye level with him. "I thought you was going to bed?"

"Yeah well, I just th_ought_-" With a grown he looked to the floor as Subaru cheered out at his high pitched word. "Subaru _please_ stop teasing me."

"No way," She ruffled his hair as she passed by on the way to her room. Once there she gave him a small little wave before disappearing behind the door. "Hey Tia-Tia."

The girl changing for bed groaned. " 'Tia' is already a nickname, why do you need to make it into a pet name?"

Subaru smiled at her while stripping down. "Because everyone calls you Tia now, I need something else." Once in her pajamas she fell onto the water bed and giggled happily as she swayed with it. "Ah, it's nice and cool..."

"Mou." Tia turned off the lights and soon joined her. "I guess we're sharing a bed while we're here, huh?" Her answer came in the form of Subaru pulling her against her chest and cuddling the girl. "S-Subaru... I can't sleep like this." She blushed lightly in the dark, feeling the girl's breath ruffle her hair.

"If you want me to stay still," Subaru protested as she took full advantage of the small bed. "Then you will have to hold me."

"But..." Tia felt her resolve weaken when her back was stroked. "It's embarrassing..."

"You said that last time," Subaru countered her in a whisper. "But we made due, didn't we?"

"We-well, after we made love I wasn't about to leave you..."

"Then let's make love." Subaru reached down to grab Tia's butt and squeezed just hard enough to make her gasp out before claiming her lips in a kiss.

"Mmnn!!? Mm?!! Mnn!... Mm...Mmmmnnnn..."

* * *

Hayate laughed happily as she pet Arf's puppy form in her lap. "Really?" She asked amazed. "Wow, I never would have thought!" Arisa giggled as well at the conversation about their past love interest since the departure to Midchilda. "So are you two taken now?" She pondered farther getting shaking of their heads. "Aw, so you broke up after all?"

"Two months ago," Arisa sighed out while waving it off. "He was a real creep anyway; I don't know _what_ I saw in him." Her watch caught her eye as she did the motion and looked at in in shock. "Wow, already three in the morning? Time sure flies, no wonder I was getting so sleepy." The girl rubbed her eyes and yawned out loudly. "Ack, just saying it actually made me tired." To her relief Suzuka also yawned out. "You guys don't seem that tired?"

Yuuno took the question. "It's only about eleven our time," He glanced at his watch to confirm this. "We're sectioned off in twenty-four hour days as well but our hours last seventy minutes." The man grinned at their sleepy faces. "What say we call it a night here and pick up tomorrow?" The group of them nodded and stood up. "Since Fate and Nanoha are spending the time with their family we have a room." The group moved up the stairs in a mass, cutting off the lights once they reached the top. "Do you two mind sleeping together?" He already knew the answer but asked it anyway to be polite. After they confirmed that they didn't mind at all they were ushered to the master bedroom that would also be the bunny couple's room. A quick goodnight later and the two were free to continue down the hall. "Well, I guess I'll say my goodnight here."

"Eh?" Hayate waved one arm out while holding onto a sleeping Arf-puppy with the other. "I can't take the only bed left, that would be rude. You sleep here and I'll sleep on the couch downstairs."

"Nuh-uh," Yuuno cut off her escape path. "You have a lot on your mind, I can tell. You get in bed and sleep well; I've spent countless nights sleeping on the ground during digs so a couch is still a step up."

"But you've been sleeping in a bed for the past few months, you're not used to it anymore," Hayate retorted, once again trying to move past him. "Mou, Yuuno, I'm not taking your bed!"

Arf stirred in Hayate's arms and opened her eyes lazily. "Both of you take the bed, I'll sleep on the couch." With that she hopped from Hayate's hold and walked a few steps before changing into a small child and rubbing her eyes. "Some of us are trying to sleep after all..."

"But..." Hayate looked at Yuuno but quickly turned her gaze. A small silence hung over them before the girl finally nodded. "I...don't mind."

"Eh!?" Yuuno looked at her in the dark hallway. "But..."

"It's okay right?" Hayate tried again as she slowly opened the door and walked into the room with him in tow. "I mean...we're best friends right? Best friends sleep together don't they?" Her face colored at her words. "But, I mean sleep together as in sleep, not sex! We wouldn't do that after all, because, you know, we're just friends..." Her rambling slowed down when he laughed lightly at her. "Sorry. I said something weird."

"Don't mind, I like it when you ramble."

"Why?" Hayate turned to look at him over her shoulder. "It's embarrassing."

"I don't know I just do." A small moment passed between them before Hayate spoke again.

"Um, I'm going to change for bed so could you... turn around?" Nervously she swapped her clothes after he did as requested, putting on a light purple silk nightgown that went clear to her ankles. Once done she sat on the bed and faced the opposite wall to allow him to change as well. "So..." She smiled at him in the dark room. "It's a fairly large bed, right?"

"Compared to the ones we have it's rather small," He disagreed with her lightly as they both got in and went back to back, not helping but to touch lightly. "Sorry I can't sleep with a shirt, it chokes me and I stay up all night pulling at it..."

"I don't mind." She flushed feeling her heart beat faster. "Is this the first time you've slept with a girl? Besides Nanoha I mean?"

"With Fate a few times but that's about the same..."

"Wow," Hayate giggled nervously. "I'm the odd one out huh?" Shifting, she felt her back press against his but she didn't feel the need to pull away.

"Silk?"

"Huh?"

"Your nightgown."

"Oh! Yes. Silk. It was a gift from Vita-chan." Recalling the memory made her calm down a little. "We still share a bed and she liked the way it felt instead of my cotton pajamas so she bought it for me to wear."

"She cling to you?" His voice was amused.

"I cling to her," She suddenly realized. "Um, This may not be a good time to bring this up but I get clingy when I sleep... I'm sorry if I do anything weird..."

"Ah, no, don't worry," Yuuno shifted to scratch his cheek. "Rather, I'm sorry if I accidentally brush against you..."

Hayate took confidence in his nervousness. "So if your hand slides against me, I shouldn't freak out?"

"I-I wouldn't!" He stopped protesting when her soft laughter came to his ears. "Hey, don't tease me."

"Forgive me," The girl stuck her tongue out despite him not being able to see her. "Well, we should get some sleep then... Tomorrow is going to be busy."

"Yeah. Lots to plan."

"So... sweet dreams, Yuuno."

"Back at you." The two closed their eyes and tried to get comfortable without bothering the other person too much.

* * *

Next time...

Fate: Tia is on the news!

Nanoha: Huh? What for!? She didn't say anything did she!?

Hayate: Calm down, there's no way they would know we're here, her being on the news won't effect us at all.

Carim: Someone hacked into our database and retrieved the teleportation logs! They're probably already on their way to Earth!

Subaru: How... How did they find us?

Elio: How can we fight something that can beat Nanoha fully powered up...?

Fate: I have to get to them! They won't last five seconds against someone that powerful!

Lutecia: Next time on Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha's 6th Division: "The Forward's decisive battle."

???????: There are those who call us Balmung... of the Azure Sky.


	5. Chapter 5

Groaning I looked over the top of Nanoha's head and into the dark room we were in. Despite the alarm clock above the bed telling me that it was seven-thirty in the morning, it still felt felt as if it was the dead of night. The window curtains were closed but there was almost no light to be blocked out thanks to the rainclouds hanging thick in the sky. I was so tempted to simply hug the girl in front of me and go back to sleep but I knew I couldn't. There was too much to do today and we really needed to get back to my summer house to start. With any luck we could start planning how exactly we were going to fight the people we were up against and maybe even get an update about Nanoha's eyesight from Shamal as well. Of course I had to get out of bed before any of this could happen, but Nanoha was sleeping so soundly... Closing my eyes, I cuddled up against her and sighed out contently. Well, maybe five more minutes wouldn't hurt anything...

**6th Mobile Division: Redemption V**

**By: Satashi**

Fate quickly opened the door to her house and ushered Nanoha inside before closing her umbrella and shaking off the rain on it. "What a day to rain," she complained more to herself than her friend but still got a reply back anyway.

"I thought you liked rain, miss storm lover." Standing where she was, she looked around the house even though she couldn't actually see it. "This is the same house you stayed in when you were younger right? After you moved out of your apartment?"

"It is," Fate's voice trailed off, seeing only Elio and Caro awake. "Mou, we hurried all the way here and everyone is still asleep?"

The youngest girl in the room turned and smiled at her commander. "Hayate-san told us to sleep in and rest since the first few days would be our vacation." She yawned loudly before she could continue though. "The time difference here is weird so we didn't end up going to bed until way late in the morning."

"Can you show me to our room?" Nanoha asked casually before Fate trotted off to do her own thing. "I want to change clothes, please."

"Yes, this way Honey." Fate took her hand and began to guide her around the living room while trying her best to describe everything to her at the same time. "Stairs," She placed her fiancé's hand on the rail and was pleased to see Nanoha go up them simply without worry. Once near the top the girl slowed down slightly and took her time to make sure she wouldn't over balance like before and soon found herself standing at the top with a proud grin on her face. "You're already adapting," Fate whispered so only they could hear. "That's my girl."

"Flirt," She accused back as the blond started to guide her to their room. The door was opened for her and after stepping in she was greeted at once by a cheerful cry from her friends. "Arisa!" she exclaimed brightly, opening her arms for a hug and getting it seconds later. "Hey! You stayed the night here?"

"We did," She replied back while giving her one more hug before jumping onto Fate as well. "Oh sweet Jesus, Fate you _did_ cut your hair! I thought Suzuka was lying!" Looking back and forth between the two her eyes slowly drifted off back to Nanoha, who was simply smiling. "So, it's true? Nanoha?"

"Mm," She replied softly, knowing what she was referring to. Bracing for another hug, she was startled to find a finger poking her chest.

"How stupid do you have to be, huh?" Arisa demanded of her. "Getting defeated! Honestly! I thought you was the 'Ace of Aces' there!?"

Nanoha puffed out her cheeks angrily. "Well ex_cuse_ me for being human! The guy took out my entire team as well, it wasn't like I just keeled over and died!"

"Well you should have tried harder or retreated or something!" She went on. "Mou, what am I going to tell my friends now after bragging about you so much?"

"Wait, you have friends?" Nanoha acted surprised.

"Of course I do!" Arisa shouted back at her in mid glaring contest. Several seconds passed by between them before both girls lost their anger and hugged each other again. "I missed you."

"You too." Nanoha smiled, pleased at being able to vent a little of her anger out.

Fate started to change clothes for the day after digging through her large duffel bag. "I'm going to wake up Hayate and start on breakfast for everyone, need anything before I go off?" The girls shook their heads, leaving her free to do as she desired. "Arisa, let's catch up once I'm done cooking okay?" She got a nod and left the three to talk amongst themselves. As the blond walked down the hall she casually trailed her fingers along the wall until she made it to the room at the end. Peeking in, she saw the form of Hayate's body and smiled to herself for getting it right on the first try. "Hayate?" she asked gently as she walked across the room. "Wake up, I need help cooking for so...many...people?" Her words slowly trailed off, mouth hanging open at the sight. Her best friend was laying quite literally on top of her best male friend, arm around his chest and knee brought up to his thighs. To top off everything Hayate had a dreamy smile on her face and was slightly drooling on Yuuno's chest. '_Oh man,_' Fate thought to herself as she used Bardiche and the house's M2D to bring up her camera screen. '_Payback is a bitch, Hayate_.'

* * *

"So what do you want to do?" Tia wondered aloud as she looked around the city. The group of Stars and Lightning members were currently in the middle of a park, apparently the same on where Nanoha first ran into Yuuno. The van driven by Fate drove off after a quick wave to them and headed back towards the house leaving them alone to have fun for the day. Looking up, Tia sheltered her eyes from what little sunlight was peeking through the damp clouds overhead. "Nanoha-san said there was a water park nearby but I don't want to risk ruining our day if it rains again. Maybe we should sightsee?"

"I want to see what school Mommy and Fate-san went to," Caro mused aloud as she thought about it.

Subaru grinned. "Oh that would be interesting! The top three Ace's old school! Maybe we could find yearbooks!"

The leader of the pack had to suppress a grin. "Okay, I'm game." holding up her device, she spoke softly to it. "Cross Mirage, have you managed to adapt to the environment on this planet?" She was given a short affirmative answer, making her smile. "Can you display and find information?" Again she was confirmed, making the group cheer out. "Thank you. Load portable M2D and connect with the house please." This time a small screen appeared in front of her. "Display directions from here to whatever school Nanoha and Fate went to as children." The screen remained still for several moments as it searched the limited availability of Earth's 'Internet' mixed with the personal database of the requested people. Finally a map appeared before them, getting smiles all around.

* * *

"Okay, so, what's the deal?" Arisa finally asked after everyone settled down quietly back at the house. "It was kind of obvious you wanted the group of students away for a while. Can we get filled in?" Looking over at Suzuka she got a short nod. "I understand military protocol and such, but I don't think it will really matter here on Earth? Speaking of..." For the first time since she arrived she gave Nanoha a soft caring look. "...How could anyone beat Nanoha-chan?"

The girl in question looked down sadly, hunched over with her hands clasped. "It was insane," She finally revealed as Raising Heart displayed a floating monitor for them to replay the battle. "It was like... Fighting a god... I couldn't even touch him." She listened to the battle taking place and cringed when she heard her own pain filled scream. "That move... Why does he know it?" Looking over towards the general area of the group, she closed her eyes. "That's Skeith's move... she gave it to me before she started to sleep."

"Can you ask her?" Fate looked over at her lover as she pet the puppy form of Arf sitting in her lap. "We would like to know that as well."

Nanoha shook her head sadly. "She's asleep; Aura only wakes when my life is threatened and only long enough to make sure I'm okay. Other than that, it's as if she isn't alive."

Yuuno licked his lips. "Skeith is a program," His childhood partner looked over at him, not liking his words. "I know she has a soul, Nanoha, I'm not implying otherwise. But...still, she's like an advanced version of Rein." Looking over at the small girl sitting on Hayate's shoulder he offered a small smile. "Man I always feel like a creep when I say that because I see her as a real person."

"Rein is Rein," She confirmed for him happily. "I know I'm a program, it doesn't bother me. My friends treat me as a person, that's all that I need to make me happy." To prove her point she flew over to Yuuno and sat on his shoulder instead. "Where is this going?"

"I was hoping to find some way to activate Skeith's program so we could find out more information on this." Yuuno spoke again, glancing around to different people as he did so. "All we know is the people we're up against use a type of Unison Device to allow them their power. Unlike you, Rein, it seems to merge with them completely. So much so that they actually refer to themselves in a plural sense."

"Anyway," Hayate interrupted him. "We know how they get their power and we have a counter measure for it..."

"Why do you say it like that?" Fate sighed. "This is another one of those insanely risky things, isn't it?"

Suzuka swallowed. "Is it that bad?"

Slowly Hayate nodded. "Yuuno and I have talked about this for a while now, trying to gather data before talking to you about it. So far we only came up with two solutions..."

"...And?" Nanoha pondered when nothing was spoken for a while.

"One, we fight them before they load a linker core or prevent them from loading one once we start fighting."

Nanoha stared at the direction Yuuno was in for a long moment, trying to decide if he was serious or not. "Gee, way to hit the nail on the head there Yuuno-kun. Tell me, what insanely brilliant second plan did you come up with?"

"...Fight them when they have mana burn after they already loaded a core."

"You're _kidding_!?" Nanoha acted shocked. "Come _on_ Yuuno-kun! Be serious here!" She was answered with silence, leaving her a moment before slowly hanging her head. "We don't stand a snowball's chance in hell do we?"

Suzuka reached out to her friend and was rewarded with a slow hug from her. "Hey, don't worry, you've done things before that were slim right? If we have a while to plan then surely we can come up with something that will give us an edge right?"

Nanoha slowly nodded in the embrace. "Mm...Yuuno-kun and Hayate-chan have never let me down before, I'm just a little touchy I suppose." She felt her back being rubbed and sighed out at the feeling. "Thanks, I'm better now." Taking a large breath, she calmed down. "What about the AMF?"

Fate nodded at the idea while petting Arf's puppy form in her lap. "Yeah, what do you think about that? Would they be immune to it like Jail was?"

"Jail was telekinetic, not magical." Hayate reminded them. "He did the research, but I don't know if the main branch also continued it. Not many planets have magical energy you know."

Yuuno leaned forward. "It's worth a shot. I have the device after all, and your barrier jackets have been equipped with the neutralizing frequency. I don't know how much it will take their power down, nor how long it will last before they find the device, but it's worth a shot. No sooner than did the words leave his mouth than a monitor appeared in the air between them all.

"Hayate!" Carim's image looked panicked on the screen. "Our databases were hacked last night! Teleportation logs were copied!"

"_What_!?" Hayate leaned forward and slammed her hands on the table in front of her. "How did this happen!? Who did it!?" The screen stayed silent despite her yelling so she tried again. "Carim, who-"

"The U.F.Q most likely," the screen picked up again. " We fear that-" Her voice stopped, blinking. "Huh?"

Yuuno put his hand on Hayate's shoulder. "There's a long delay, you'll have to wait before talking again." Turning to the screen, he spoke to the woman. "Did they get our location?"

Carim replied shortly. "Yes, they know you are on non-administrated planet number ninety-seven. They don't have your exact location so if you lay low and don't call attention to yourself then you should be okay if you stay indoors."

Arisa swallowed. "Um, this may not be the best time to say this but... Lutecia, I think her name was, said something about Tia being on the news stopping some type of robbery this morning..." Fate looked over and met Hayate's eyes in fear.

* * *

Subaru slowly pushed herself up amongst the rubble and coughed out the dust she had inhaled. Her vision swam, mind working quickly to try and figure out why she was in pain. She had just been standing, not fifteen seconds ago, talking with everyone as they looked around the track field of Nanoha's old school. Now she was slowly pulling herself up from amidst the broken bleachers. "Wha..." She coughed again, seeing rubble shift as Tia stood. "What... What happened?" Tia didn't answer her at first, already jumping over piles of broken metal and wood to find the other members and make sure they were okay. '_How can she recover so fast?_' The words ran through the blue haired girl's mind quickly as she looked up into the air out of habit from fighting against Nanoha "Tia! Topside!"

"Such a slow reaction time," A voice floated down to them, slowly lingering over the field as the group scrambled to gather. "I expected more from the students of the top flying Ace." Slowly the figure sank down onto the ground and crossed his arms. " I wonder if this will even be worth my time?"

Tia observed the man in front of them slowly, taking in everything she could to try and figure out exactly who he was and a weakness, if any. The man had long white hair flared back freely behind his back. Blue eyes glared at them, matched by the exact same type of armor that the Azure Flame wore. "Who are you?" She finally spoke, Barrier Jacket flaring to life around her skin. "Why have you attacked us?"

"They call me Balmung... of the Azure Sky." Balmung smirked at them, pulling out a large broad sword type device. "If you do not surrender peacefully I will do more than harm you. A hostage would be nice but is not required."

Elio gripped Strada and stood ahead of his fellow lightning members. With his spear in front of him, he narrowed his eyes and spoke. "Azure Sky, the same type of name Tri-Edge had. He was probably sent here to kill the others?"

Subaru swallowed. "How... how can we fight someone on par with the guy who beat Nanoha fully powered..." Her eyes widened as Balmung slowly inserted a small round gem into his sword. "Is that...?"

Balmung smirked, blasting the gem into his device. "Load Linker core!"

"Affirmative!" His device held a thick accent to it.

When Caro could see again, she realized that the simple act of loading the energy source had knocked them all back several feet from where they had been standing previously. "... I'm scared..." Her shaking hands were soon comforted by another gripping it firmly. Following it up to it's owner, she found Lutecia looking at her with a determined expression. Caro nodded at her after a few seconds and turned to glare back at the man, for the first time noticing that Elio was still in front of them even after taking the brunt of the blow.

"Listen," Tia whispered softly so only they could hear her words. Balmung was slowly walking towards them as they gripped their weapons. "I can't promise you that we will survive this." She closed her eyes for just a moment. "If you want to run, I will distract him so you can get away. There is no shame in a strategic retreat; I won't force any of you to put your life on the line in this battle."

"She's right," Subaru stood next to Tia and loaded rifle sized shells into the glove her lover had made for her. "You can make it back while we keep his attention."

Elio scoffed to himself. "I'm not going anywhere." Shifting his stance, he prepared to strike. "We're a team."

Lutecia stood on the other side of the boy, lifting her hands and forming a magic circle for support under her. "You accepted me without questions... I will not turn my back on you, no matter the cost."

Finally Caro walked forward as well, twin circles appearing under her feet. "My dragons... Bless my knight with the armor of frost, and my team with the mist of protection." The roars of vanishing dragons echoed somewhere in the skies as the magic keeping them on Earth changed to enchant those around her. The Dragoon Knight was instantly frozen over, graced in armor that looked to be completely made out of ice. Although it had a form around his normal barrier jacket, the exact details could not be made out, as it was mostly translucent. The rest of them were covered lightly in a type of silver glowing fog that clung to their bodies. "My protection may not last long against him," She warned. "But it's the best I can do."

Tia's lips turned up into a proud smirk as her eyes trained back onto the man in front of them who was now preparing to strike. "Thank you, all of you." Narrowing her eyes, she contacted the group mentally. "_Here's what I need you to do to win this!_"

The group scattered at once, running quickly away from the attack that was launched at them. The area they had just been standing was gone now, simply vaporized from the sword swing. "Oh?" Balmung mused, turning around and grinning at the several blast of magic that were absorbed into the barrier surrounding him. "So you will put up a fight?" Glancing to his side, he noticed Elio seem to phase into view across from him before vanishing again and reappearing on his other side. "This should be interesting to say the least."

Subaru's fist slammed hard against the barrier in front of Balmung, glove crackling furiously as a spent shell was ejected from it's holder. She seemed to be three complete feet away from the man, fighting a barrier that she herself could only project mere inches from her skin. Jumping back, she avoided a slash of the sword and landed in a crouch. She gripped her arm tightly, panting in pain as light blood trickled from between her fingers. "I'm fine!" she yelled before Tia could be distracted. Looking down, she winced at the cut. '_He wasn't even close to getting me and yet he did this much damage from a miss?Even with Caro's dragon barrier...'_

Elio once again flashed across the battlefield as Tia emptied her guns quickly, streaming several shots up and above the man in an attempt to find a weak spot in the shield. Her guns, although empty of shells, still fired as fast as she could pull the triggers. The gunslinger noticed that the magic wasn't being drained from her but instead came from from Caro. "I can't summon while having two active dragon enchants," The young one gasped out as she continued to pump magical energy into everyone to increase their abilities. "This is all I can do!"

Lutecia danced around the man outside of the barrier as Elio flashed over them yet again. Trying to find a spot to attack from, she sent several small insets through the shield only to have them vaporized from the magic radiating from within. "I can't get any through!" She cried as Balmung kicked his foot out. Although missing her by four feet, she still flew through the air and dug a trench into the ground where she landed. "Ah...Ahn..."

"Lulu!" Elio forced himself not to rush over to her, instead blurring his speed as he ran across the battle area. Leaping over the man, he focused all the energy Caro had sent him and loaded a shell to enforce it. The spear tip bounced off the top of the barrier just as it had been.

Balmung glanced to the side, seeing Elio once again appearing on his other side. "My dear boy, what are you trying to do?" turning his attention to Tia, he focused himself on dodging her bullets and allowed a few to be absorbed by his protection. With a quick slash he sent Subaru railing through the air and into the dirt, sliding far in the dust. "Hahaha, this is too much fun! Like a cat playing with it's mouse before consuming it!" His world flipped around as the ground beneath him blasted into the sky. Balmung nimbly ran across the raising spike of stone and lashed out against the purple summoner.

"What I desire!" Lutecia flew into the air and twirled around an attack. "Water of deception!" Balmung's sword sliced clean through the girl's body, grinning at the sudden surprised look and dead blank eyes of the defeated insect queen. Landing, he took a startled look as the two body parts flashed into water, covering both himself and the ground. "I desire," Lutecia spoke from afar as Elio lashed forward again. "A flow of lightning from within!"

Balmung laughed as the electricity flared around him, not breaking the shield that Elio once again bounced off of. "Such pathetic attempts!" Despite the power radiating around him being able to floor most double-A mages in one hit, he simply blasted Lutecia back into the ground when she was finished channeling her energy.

"Lulu!" Elio blurred again, catching her body before slamming into the broken bleachers. "Are you okay?" Holding her tighter, her noticed that she felt rather soft in his arms and unconsciously squeezed her.

"E-Eli-chan!" Lutecia blushed darkly, making Elio realize that he had been feeling up her chest. "I-I don't mind but this... this is hardly the time!"

"I didn't mean to!" Pulling back he let her go and grabbed his spear, tripping over himself in an attempt to gain some distance from the blushing girl

Tia growled, shouting at him. "Elio, pay attention!" Frowning, she looked back at her opponent. '_Damn puberty messing up my team...' _Despite being wide open for attack nothing came, as Balmung was too busy laughing at them. The leader smirked, loading two more rounds into her twin pistols and unloading what she could. '_That's it, just keep being cocky._' She had to leap to the side as she was charged, feeling her barrier jacket almost vaporize from the close encounter. Skidding to a halt, she inspected the damage and frowned at her bruised leg. A tackle came next, and she rolled across the ground with her Stars partner to avoid another close swing of the massive broadsword. "Subaru!" The blue haired girl panted, clutching her side and withering in agony from the attack she just took to cover her partner. "Let me see!"

"No!" Subaru screamed loudly. "Fight! I'll be fine!"

"But-" Her words were barely audible over the roar of fire summoned by Lutecia, followed by another attempt to sneak in poisoned wasps.

"GO!" The injured girl cried desperately.

Tia forced back the feeling and ran, shooting both guns as fast as she could. "Hey! Over here!" She glared at him as she was looked at, allowing Elio to once again make his journey. She bent herself backwards and saw the sword sail above her. Ignoring the blinding rush of energy around her she shot several times, creating a smoke cloud around them. "_Caro! Please! Everything you have!"_

"_I'm at my limit!_" The dragon princess sobbed out as she fell to her knees. "_Too much! Four people is too much!_" with her shaking hands, she forced the remaining energy from her linker core into both Tia and Elio.

Lutecia slid along the ground as she got into position, summoning a swarm of flies around her so thick she couldn't see through them. "Go, my darlings," She requested of them softly. "Confuse him!" Pushing out her hands, she felt her body stagger. "_Tia... I summoned enough to buy you some time..._" Falling to her knees, she forced herself to stay up the rest of the way. '_I can't fall yet! There's one more thing I have to do!_'

Balmung looked around at the insects buzzing around him, feeling Elio flash above him again. Despite the interference he managed to see the movement and threw out his hand to counter. The scream was loud, bringing a smile to his face as chunks of ice fell. Several more blast hit his shield but the combination of smoke and flies made him stop to look for the new direction they were coming from. "Go _away_!" Slashing out his hand, he enveloped the area around him in a thick fire, burning most of the insects in the process. Now free to see slightly, his eyes widened at the sight of Elio landing in front of him. His body was covered again, green and purple armor gracing his jacket.

"Knight attack:" He began, the smirk evident on his face as Strada cracked over it's entire body from the force of the attack just delivered. "The God that Failed!" Lutecia collapsed across from him, leaving the armor to shatter as well. Balmung looked up finally, seeing the scratched and cracked area in his barrier above his head.

"You...! All this time...!?" His eyes narrowed angrily, building up a ball of energy in his hand and thrusting it forward at the boy. "Damn you!" The blast hit it's mark, but he had no time to see the damage done. Looking up, he gasped at the sight of Tia flying straight down at him. "This is madness!"

Tia pointed her shotgun at the top of the barrier and fired the moment she was about to collide with it. The force of the attack finally shattered a hole in the barrier where all five of them had been concentrating their attacks. Falling through it, Tia reared back a hand in a punch and threw it at Balmung's face. As expected it was caught firmly within his own fist. Not letting up, Tia twisted her body around and lashed her foot out. Balmung lifted his leg to absorb the shock of it almost instantly, dropping his sword and predicting the next attack before it even came. Tia flipped her body over upside down and threw out her other foot to connect with the man's shoulder, only to have it caught by Balmung's now free hand. "Checkmate," Tia stated as she hung upside down in his grasp, black and red version five of Cross Mirage placed directly on the man's chest. His eyes went wide as the trigger was pulled.

The world blurred around her as the blast shot, heat searing through her jacket and burning her skin. There was a scream but she didn't know if it was from him or herself, maybe a combination of both. Everything Caro had given her was gone, the shells in her barrel emptied. Cross Mirage was already draining her, sucking the energy from her body to complete the task. The feeling in her hand spread, snapping sharply once she realized what it was. Firing the fifth stage one handed hand instantly fractured the bones in her hand, spreading back into her wrist and arm, moving up in splintering lines to her shoulder which was now out of socket.

One body hit the ground, Tia falling first onto the back of her neck and shoulders and then continuing to collapse onto her back. Looking up in agony, she saw the body of Balmung above her, taking a few staggering steps away from her before falling to his knees and then onto his face. Panting, she watched for any signs of movement, but saw nothing other than the pained signs of breathing. The man's eyes met hers then, his lips turning up into a sick smile and laughing. "Ha...ha...ha...ha... Well... played..." Grunting, he coughed blood. "Kite was...right... My arrogance... _was_...the death... of me..." Looking at her harder, he gave one final smirk. "But you... you're coming... with me!"

"Tiaaaa!" Subaru's scream invaded the Stars member's ears as a thick black slime erupted from Balmung's body and latched onto her. All at once she heard screaming inside her head, pain covering her body as the ooze tried to consume her. "Tia! Tia!" Subaru's voice was desperate now, hands grasping at the black substance and slinging it away from her. Ripping and tearing, the close quarters fighter shredded her way into the avatar trying to kill her partner. Finally, after several pain staking seconds, the ooze stayed still. "Tia...Tia...! Answer me!"

"Suba...ru..." Tia weakly opened her eyes as the enemy on her fell away from her body as if it was never there.

"Oh god... I was so scared..." Leaning over, she gently tried to touch her but had to stop when her partner winced. "What is it?" Her voice was almost high pitched, scared for her life.

"Shoulder..." The word instantly made Subaru's hands grip her, snapping it back into socket instantly. "Owwwwwwwwww!"

"Subaru! Tia!" A new voice screamed loudly from the air, Fate dropping to the ground so hard her boots dug into the dirt, forming two small trenches. " Are you okay!?" Her eyes instantly widened at the amount of blood stained on Subaru's battle uniform.

Tia looked over at her and smiled as best she could. "We... won... Fate...-san..."

The Lightning leader quickly scanned the area and accounted for everyone still moving. Finally she leaped over them and inspected the body. "...The Azure Sky."

Balmung weakly opened his eyes, staring up at Fate with what little energy he had left before dieing. "Even though I die..." His voice was so weak Fate had to lean closer to hear him. "My job was completed... Nanoha...will be dead... before you get there..." With those last words, his head turned to the side and stared lifelessly at nothing.

Fate stared at him in disbelief for a full four seconds before turning sharply on her squadron. "Report!" No words came to her ears so she tried again. "Damn it I said_ report_!"

"Ma'am." Elio tried his best, understanding why she was so desperate. "Lulu and I will make it."

Caro weakly opened her eyes, dust blowing softly as she panted, face still on the ground. "I'll... be okay..."

Subaru nodded at Fate, still too worried about her partner. Tia, seeing this, spoke as best she could. "Go."

Fate gave them all a regretful look before turning and blasting into the air again back towards where she had just came from. '_If anything happens to Nanoha I'll..._' She couldn't finish the thought, already pushing herself to her limit of flying speed. "Bardiche," She spoke to her device as she spun in the air to try and even out the air turbulence she just passed through. "Contact the house!"

"Connection terminated," The weapon told her simply.

"Contact Nanoha!"

"Raising Heart's address is unavailable."

"_Hayate_!"

"The Tome of the Night Sky's address is-"

"YUUNO!"

"The Book of One-Thousand's address is unavailable."

Fate choked on her air, pushing harder. '_No... Please, God, no!'_

* * *

"I can't keep still much longer," Nanoha looked around nervously despite not being able to see. Sitting on the couch, she rubbed her hands together while tapping her heel on the floor.

"You haven't been still since Fate left," Yuuno told her, pressing his hand down on her leg to keep her from bouncing it up and down so quickly. "Calm down, they only know what town we're in, if that. To be able to track us down enough to battle would take way too much luck."

"You don't believe in luck," Nanoha stated as she looked to where the voice was coming from. "There is no such thing as luck, only statistics, right?" She heard a soft chuckle under the male's breath and took small confidence from it. "Can you contact her?"

Hayate sighed. "Nanoha-chan, she _just_ left, can't you wait ten minutes?"

The girl fumed up at her, accidentally petting Arf too hard and getting a small bark. "Sorry," She spoke down to her before talking back to her friend. "I do it all the time when I'm nervous, she's used to it by now. Activate battle filter and contact please."

"Fine," Hayate raised her hands and got a display in front of herself. Ignoring Suzuka and Arisa's amazed looks, she tapped a few buttons in the air. "Battle filter set."

Suzuka leaned over to Yuuno ans whispered lightly to him while Hayate tried to connect. "What's 'battle filter' mean?"

"In short, it means if whoever's weapon is engaged, the call won't go through unless you use an emergency contact. That way we know if it's safe to talk to someone or not." He got a slight hum from his friend so he turned back to the brown haired girl across from him. "What's taking so long?"

Hayate frowned. "I don't think you set up the connection right here, the call isn't going through."

Yuuno blinked. "It _has_ to be set up right, we've used it already."

"Well it's _obviously_ not working _now_ is it?" She put her hands on her hips and frowned at the display. "How odd... Contact Nanoha, please." The screen lit up in a red error message almost instantly, declaring that the frequency was unavailable. "What's going on...?"

"Sshh!" Nanoha put a finger to her lips and shushed them quickly. Time ticked by slowly as they all tried in vain to hear what the girl had become so serious over. "You hear that?" her own voice quieted down to nothing more than a whisper. "The humming sound..."

Yuuno's eyes lit up, quickly grabbing the two civilians by putting an arm over each of their shoulders and hastily leading them away. "Be quiet and be prepared to run," He told them harshly in a whisper. "We're trapped in a barrier, when they are attacked we are going to make a break for it. Once at the end, I'll hack the shield and let you two out before returning to battle. Don't go home, just find a crowded place and stay there." His words were barely finished before a light knocking came on the door, shattering the silence that hung around the room. Staying as still as he could, the blond man backed the girls up to a wall and tried to stay in front of them as best he could, hands gripping their wrist in preperation to drag them to safety. Again the knocking came, slower this time and much louder. Swallowing, he looked over at Hayate and got a short nod back. Both of their barrier jackets sprang to life at once. Hayate fused with Rein quickly, kneeling down and holding out her staff. Slowly energy began to gather into a ball at the tip. Circulating over itself, the magic grew larger as she laid in wait.

The next few moments happened so fast it seemed to click by in still frames in Yuuno's mind. The door burst open all at once, allowing a man entrance to their home uninvited. The next scene was Hayate screaming loudly as she fired her blast, followed by her face being gripped by the man's large hand. Nanoha was screaming demands to know what was happening, the two girls behind him freezing in place despite his pleads to move. Hayate was already losing her battle, overpowered even without her limiter on. Nanoha made her move, pleading for her friends to run to safety. It was then that they finally moved and allowed the male to almost literally drag them outside. The seconds flashed by quickly, each one making him try harder at breaking the code to grant them access to the field's power. Hayate was fighting, Nanoha was screaming, Suzuka was crying, Arisa was yelling...

Finally it cracked, Yuuno broke through the barrier and formed a hole to shove his friends through. He didn't say anything to them after pushing them out, only turning around and running back inside. Hayate was already laying on the couch, beaten but breathing. Leaping into action, he grabbed Nanoha around the waist and pulled her out of the way of one of the man's blast. "It's me!" He whispered desperately into his friend's ear when she struggled to break free of his hold. "Sweetie it's me, don't worry!" He tried to calm her as best he could, shielding them both from an attack but getting thrown back into the wall from the force of it. "We're getting out of here!"

"I think not!" The man was already in front of them, raising his hand and forming another attack.

Nanoha heard Yuuno's cry of pain and a soft thunk next to her. Panting, she looked in front of herself, eyes wide yet unseeing. It was quiet again, the only sounds coming from Yuuno's groaning body and Hayate's weak attempts to stand. Her breath echoed around her, heart pounding in her ears. She heard laughter, taunts thrown at he as she slashed out Raising Heart in an attempt to hit the man. Her body ached, mind demanding her to gain distance and fire from mid to long range, to claim her spot in the air. She pressed down the urge, knowing she could hurt her friends drastically if she acted too quickly. '_Skeith!_' She flexed the fingers on her right hand. '_Help me! I need you_!' Out of no where a magical blast hit her, life saved only by Raising Heart's auto barrier. '_Find me! Skeith!_' sliding on the floor, she tried to look around, to find Hayate and try and help her. '_Skeith! Aura! Listen to me! Find me!_' Again she was hit by a blast, feeling her barrier jacket shred from it.

Hayate's voice suddenly came to her ears, telling her to run to the right and escape. The sounds of battle sprang up again, this time lasting for almost a minute before Hayate's voice died down again. "Now just one more," The man spoke, snapping Nanoha's attention to the direction it was coming from.

"Come and get me!" She taunted him, finally running where Hayate told her to and ramming her right shoulder roughly against the door frame as she made it outside and into the air. "Catch me if you can!" she felt the presence follow her, forcing her to fly faster away, in any direction she could. She didn't know which way was up, down, or anything in between anymore. All that mattered was the man was with her and not harming her friends anymore. '_Come on... Come on! I'm right here!_' Nothing came to her call. No familiar sound of the tuning fork, no itching of her skin, no rush of power...

Pain flared to life as several magical energy daggers cut across her body and forcing her to crash roughly into a building and fall. Catching herself, she quickly descended, using the building she just hit as a guide. Panting, she could tell her barrier Jacket was mostly ripped now and could feel the wind blowing against her skin from a rather large gap somewhere over her stomach area. '_Skeith... please..._' Again she felt a sudden hit on her stomach, making her breath leave her body. '_Fate..._' With the last thought, she slumped over.

* * *

"Yuuno!" Fate landed hard, falling over onto the ground and picking up the man's upper body in her arms. "Yuuno! Come on, wake up! Say something!"

Weakly his left eye opened, looking up at her hazily. "Fate... Hayate...inside... Nanoha escape... he's chasing her..."

"Are you okay!?"

The man coughed, using his own energy to get to a sitting position. "Hayate... check on her..."

Fate stayed with him a second longer to ensure herself he wouldn't topple over as soon as she left his side. Rushing into the house he found the girl laying on her stomach, spread out on the floor. "Hayate!" Sliding down beside her, she shook her shoulder as gently as she could. "Open your eyes!"

"Ugh..." She came to quickly, waking much faster than the male thanks to her years of battle. "Fate... We were jumped... Is Yuuno okay?"

"He's okay," Her red eyes glanced back over to him just to ensure herself as well. "And you?"

"No time. The girls are safe, Nanoha took off, I don't know where, he's after her, go." Her words were broken, mind having trouble thinking straight. "He hit my head... can't focus..."

Yuuno spoke up from across the room, grabbing their attention. "The jamming barrier's gone... I can contact Shamal to get us and the forwards if they were attacked as well."

"They were," Fate confirmed as she ran outside and closed her eyes. "Get help immediately, I'm going to find Nanoha." She heard them reply but didn't listen. Instead she concentrated hard, focusing on the bond she shared with her fiancée. '_Nanoha... Nanoha!_' A feeling shot through her heart, making her leap into the air and fly hard towards where she thought she would find her. She didn't have to go far before finding a small section of the town encased in a short barrier. Sailing down to it, she strangely enough found herself able to pass into it without any trouble. '_It's a trap,_' she knew it but right now didn't care. "Nanoha? Nanoha!?" Her voice seemed to fade into nothing, only getting a laugh in return for her calls. Running fast, she slid to a halt when she caught sight of a rather large looking man in armor that she had seen before on both Balmung and Tri-Edge. "Who are you!?"

"My name is Orca. Orca of the Azure Sea. You are late, Fate."

"Where is Nanoha!?"

"She has already been taken care of." Reaching down behind an area Fate couldn't see, he lifted up Nanoha's body by one of her wrist and held her in the air so Fate could see.

The blonde's world froze. She couldn't move, couldn't take her eyes from the sight. Her friend, lover, fiancée, was lifeless. Blood trickled down over one of her eyes and barrier jacket torn to pieces. "Na...no...ha...?"

"Didn't put up much of a fight, this one." Orca continued to taunt her.

"My... My Nanoha..." Fate's words began to break, eyes brimming with tears.

"Crying? The Terror of Death? Pathetic."

"Give her to me." Her words were suddenly cold, venom dripping in them.

Orca chuckled as he wrapped his arm around Nanoha's waist and kept her in his arms. "What do you want with a body?" He pondered.

"Give her to me," Fate repeated the words as she shoulders shook in fury, eyes glaring harshly at the ground. _"Give her to me!_"

"And lose such a pretty figure?" He shifted her in his arms, looking at the holes in the barrier jacket. "No, I think I'll keep her around for a while longer." Turning back to Fate, he grinned in satisfaction seeing the small amount of blood drip from Fate's clenched fist where her fingernails were biting into her skin.

"I swear," Fate told him, slowly looking up and meeting his eyes. Orca blinked in shock, seeing the blond suddenly in front of him, hand thrusting up to his stomach and into his skin. Red eyes bore into his as her fist ripping through his body until it found his heart and crushed it between her fingers.

The man almost dropped Fate, blinking again and this time seeing Fate where she had been standing. His chest wasn't in pain, heart still beating. '_Illusion magic?_' He asked himself, shaking off the feeling. '_No... No it was desire...A desire to kill..._' The thought only made him smile more.

"I swear..." Fate repeated again as Bardiche formed in her hand. "Not even the flames of hell will protect you from me now."

* * *

Tia: Our battle was won mostly by luck. Our opponent underestimated us enough to allow us a win. I was proud at first, but then I heard of the battle taknig place away from where we stood.

Subaru: Fate is fighting like I've never seen before...Just watching makes me scared for my life...

Hayate: Devil Trigger, the small amount of insanity she inherited from Precia, came again... Even if she wins this battle, I don't know if she herself will survive in that state.

Elio: Next time on Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha, 6th Division: The True Terror of Death.

Yuuno: Nanoha... Fate...


	6. Chapter 6

Seeing Nanoha's body awoke something inside of me that I had always repressed, always forced down whenever it came in my gut. Fighting was always something I had done, but there was a boundary, a limit, a line that was to never be crossed. Anger, rage, personal revenge, they had nothing to do with my job, and as such I never let them bother me. I was to fight who I was commanded to, to subdue them and bring them in for judgment. Never was I to fight for the sake of fighting, to hurt for the reason of hurting... But now... that didn't matter now. He crossed the line, he had killed the person who saved me, gave me a purpose, gave me feeling, gave me love. She was gone, and I felt nothing but rage. I would cry later; right now I had to avenge her, to kill the man who stole her from me. Gripping Bardiche hard, I glared at the person and felt a shiver run down his spine as our eyes met. No, killing him wasn't enough... It would never be enough to sooth the pain in my heart. I felt my throat tighten as his hands went over my ex-lover's stomach and my feet pressed hard against the concrete as I made my first attack.

**6th Mobile Division: Redemption VI**

**By: Satashi**

Orca looked to the side when Fate vanished from his sight. Turning his head, a flaring yellow energy missed his neck by centimeters. Fate's body blurred, again ripping her sword against and through the auto barrier generated by him, turning his attention to the backside where Bardiche's blade failed again to make it to his skin. His mind worked fast, preparing to counter the next attack and did so easily when Fate tried to attack again from above. Thrusting out his hand, he reached out to grab the woman's neck but felt only air when he grasped for it. Seconds later Fate landed softly on the ground away from him, slowly placing Nanoha down. "Ha ha ha haaaaa." Orca shook his head in an amused manor. "I didn't even see you take her." His voice drug out the words, almost as if he was enjoying saying them. "Tell me, girl, could you be the one to finally challenge me?"

Fate shook, turning her tear stained eyes back at him and letting out a roar that rang from the bottom of her throat. The war cry scattered the dust on the ground next to her as she flashed forward once again. Her scythe bounced off Orca's shield and flared into zamber mode to prevent a counter attack from being released on her. The woman twisted in the air, snapping the handle of her weapon and making the pulsating blade break longways into two half-swords. The one in her left hand slashed downwards only to be punched away. Not giving up, she flicked her right one sideways and felt it flare through the shield but still being forced away from the body enough to do no damage. Her feet touched the ground for only a moment, being swept out from underneath her. The Azure Sea's body turned around in the spin kick and followed it quickly by grabbing her ankle and throwing her half way through the building next to them.

The rubble didn't have time to completely fall before Fate was already back to him, slinging her weapons rapidly. Orca grinned at her devilishly, pushing forward and grabbing her wrist to sling the woman over his shoulder. The force broke the ground under them but did nothing to stop the screams of fury still coming from her mouth. Raising her hand, Fate sent several glowing lances at her opponent in an attempt to make him gain distance. The attack worked long enough for her to reclaim her footing and move forward again. Halfway she was clotheslined in her run and found herself once more looking into the air. A punch shattered the ground where her head was just laying, forcing her to turn onto her stomach and go into a handstand, lashing her foot out. Orca bent completely backwards at the same time as his foot swept the area. Fate snarled loudly, flying at that level just long enough to attach one of her swords onto her boot and reclaimed her handstand. Turning quickly, she rotated her body with her legs spread apart in a hurricane kick. Orca leaned to the side, tried again to trip her, and flipped over her other leg when his attack failed.

Bardiche's other sword embedded itself into the ground, giving the blond a place to shift her weight and correct her stance. Now upright, she kicked out one more time before reclaiming the plasma blade in her other hand and ripping the first upwards. Orca grabbed the offending blade with his hand, smirking at her as he punched her stomach. The area flew around her as she rebounded against a wall some ten feet away from the battle. Again, she flew back into close quarters combat space before he could even fully register his attack had met it's mark. Growling hard, she flashed her weapons again and again, getting harder and faster with each swing. Time and time again her blades bled through the shield but couldn't seem to reach her mark. Her opponent finally caught her wrist again and turned her around, quickly grabbing her other and holding the woman tightly in his arms. Slowly he ran his nose from her shoulder up along her neck as she screamed and struggled to escape his grasp. "Delicious," He whispered to her softly, smiling to himself. "I wonder," he continued as Fate kept crying out madly. "Would you taste as heavenly as your lover did?" His tongue ran along her cheek. "No...she tasted much, much sweeter."

Fate's eyes dilated to the point where nothing but red could be seen. Images of Nanoha's torn barrier jacket flashed through her mind, making her break his hold and turn around, punching as hard as she could but not making it through the barrier he had._ "I'll kill _you!" In her fury she couldn't find anything else to say, repeating the same words over and over as she thrust her weapons at him. Each one ripped into the barrier, obviously moving faster than him, but never touching the man enough to cause harm. Finally she felt her hair being grabbed and soon found herself doubled over after a magical blast at close range. She knew whatever hit her had cracked a rib but the pain didn't register, didn't matter. Glaring at the ground, she noticed a basketball sized sphere roll over to them and flash a few times before exploding, blasting both of them far apart.

"Who's there!?" Orca yelled out though the smoke, anger that his battle was interrupted was evident in his voice.

" 'Fraid you messed with the wrong people," A female voice stated as the dust cleared. A tall woman stood, clad in a tight form fitting top and pink shorts that barely covered anything. The figure brought up her hands, cracking her knuckles before wiping her mouth with the back of one of them. Behind her a long tail swayed while shifting into a battle stance. "Nobody messes with my masters!" Arf glared at him with one fang showing over her bottom lip. Despite staying in child form for so long she didn't seem phased any to suddenly be so tall again.

"Her familiar," Orca smiled to himself as he was rushed from both parties. Fate was still in a blind rage while attacking, obviously not seeing anything except for him. The thought made him smile more, fighting back harder to avoid being hit for a while before finally kicking her familiar out of the way and blasting Fate point blank in her face. The attack was supposed to gain him some breathing room to taunt her but instead he found Bardiche's blade ripping across his arm in a searing heat filled roar of pain. Startled, he gave the woman enough time to form her own magical blast and fire it, slinging him several yards away to skid on his back. "What...?"

"AMF," Arf stated, holding her side in agony from the single attack landed on her. "Improved to become an area of effect in the air instead of emitting from a device. Did you think I was just hiding when you attacked? As soon as you came, I was already getting the one thing that could be our edge on you Azure trio!"

Orca laughed loudly as he stood. "Idiot, an AMF would hinder you as much as it would me!" His words stopped when Fate stood up again, re-igniting both of her half-swords. A yellow ring of energy was glowing around her throat, wrists, and both ankles as well. Stepping forward, she glared at him, eyes boring into his soul and crushing it with her presence. "An anti-AMF..." Narrowing his eyes, he glared at them. "So that's how you beat Jail..."

"Arf," Fate finally spoke to her familiar. "Stay away."

"But-"

"_I said stay away!_" She screamed her words. Panting, seething, glaring, she focused her eyes on Orca. Both swords shook in her hands, mental images of Nanoha's battle flashing across her vision. "I'm going to kill him myself!" Running at Orca again, she leapt into the air and twisted around, slashing her sword diagonally at him. The Azure Sea leaned counter-side to the strike and turned his body around to dodge the follow up. Flipping backwards, he flew above a horizontal swipe and bent over as her other sword flashed again. Fate gripped both swords by their ends and thrust them both forward to give him no choice but to jump back and slide on the ground.

The dirt crunched under him as he slid away from Fate, blasting four magic projectiles at her as he did so. The attacks were knocked aside easily by the blond's swords but the force of the attack made Orca spin around at the end of his slide. The woman took a chance and ran at him, jumping at the very end as he stood and narrowly missed him with her double stab. Four more energy daggers sliced through the air, giving Fate just enough time to deflect two of them before taking the rest with the front of her body. Again the pain didn't register, only anger came from the attack and in her fury she swapped how she held her left sword and threw it at the man.

Orca narrowly escaped the attack, shoulder being sliced slightly as he literally dove out of the way of the surprise move. The blade embedded itself in the building behind them but was left alone by the two. Fate was already in front of him again, using her other sword to slash down madly. Orca twirled around her, slipping down to his knees and forming a dagger of energy in his hand as he did so. With a proud smirk from the move, he slammed the weapon as hard as he could, ripping straight through Fate's barrier and boot, pinning her foot to the ground. No yell of agony came to his ears, making him look up and meet the red eyes of the devil.

Fate's arm ripped sideways in an attempt to decapitate the shocked man but only succeeded in taking a few hairs off the top of his head as he ducked. Swapping stances, she moved her sword upwards at him instead. Orca moved back and made a desperate attempt to move his head to avoid a kick from the now free leg of Fate. The energy dagger still in her foot itched his skin as it flashed by him but soon found her other foot slamming into his neck fully. Wasting no time, Fate flew up in the air slightly before forcing herself down to choke him. Her other leg kicked downwards, stabbing Orca with his own energy in her foot. With a cry of anger Fate lifted her first leg and stomped her injured foot, forcing the dagger through her own body and deeper into his. The blond flipped back and landed on the ground, not feeling the grinding pressure on her trembling wound as it unknowingly suffered to hold up her weight.

Slowly Orca righted himself and grasped the dagger in his chest to dispell it. His opponent snarled once again, turning the handle of her weapon and making a yellow string of energy come out from it. With the new plasma rope she gathered herself for an attack that included throwing the thread behind herself to wrap around her previously disregarded sword. The man watched her rip it from the building and pull it over to herself in mid jump. Dodging backwards, he felt a rush of adrenaline curse through his veins from the thrill of the fight he was getting. Fate thrust downwards at him but missed once more. Her attack continued by using the force of the attack to propel herself in the air once again and swing her other sword down into the ground before finally moving into a third and final stab that also missed it's target. Again the man found himself ducking and twisting around Fate's mad kicks as she balanced herself on top of the embedded sword in the ground while trying to land a clean shot on his head.

Having had enough of the balancing act, Fate jumped off it and twisted around with her other sword, stabbing down and grazing Orca across the chest as she landed. The next moment she found herself sailing through the air from a hard kick enforced by a magic blast. Crashing back against a building, she let out her first cry of pain as she landed. Images of Nanoha struggling blindly came to her mind, feeding the flames she needed to push herself up and once again run forward. At the last moment she turned into a flip, grabbing her sword from the ground, and lashed out madly in an attempt to cut the man in half. Before the attack had time to land her enemy was already in the air, legs apart in the splits as the blade cut nothing beneath him.

Fate turned sharply, throwing Bardiche at him once again and having it deflected back at her from one of his magic energy daggers. Catching her sword, she threw her other to block a second dagger of his and caught it a once more as they ran. Bardiche was hurled at him again, clashing against the dagger a third and final time. Orca spun around as Fate sliced and placed his foot on her blade, pinning it to the ground and running up it to flip over her body. As he landed he turned and grabbed the blond hard when she tried to fly away, catching her around her waist and squeezing her. "I'll crush you in half!" His yell of triumph was cut short as a sudden screaming of pain filled his chest. Air escaped him and before long he felt as if he was choking, drowning despite not being in any water. Slowly he looked down and saw Bardiche's blade coming from Fate's lower back and felt it rip out of his when she pushed it deeper into her own stomach.

The two landed roughly, each barely standing up as the split apart. The woman turned and glared at him harshly, one hand pressed against the would in her stomach but kept a sick smile of satisfaction on her lips when she realized she had punctured one of his lungs. " You're mine now." She told him, sword shaking in anger still.

"Ah," Orca knelt against his will and tried his best just to breathe. "But your prisons...won't hold me for lo-aahhh!"

Fate twisted her sword in his shoulder before pulling it back harshly. "...No.. you aren't going to jail..." Their eyes met firmly once again as she slowly reached down and gripped his neck to haul him up to be level with her face. "I am going to destroy you here and now." The words paired with the still burning eyes made Orca feel something he couldn't remember the last time he encountered. Fear consumed his body as the woman prepared to strike again.

Arf tried as hard as she could to tune out the sounds around her as she gently touched Nanoha's cheek in a soothing manor. "Nanoha?" She asked softly, eyes starting to water. "Wake up... please wake up..." Moving to her shoulder she shook tenderly. "Nanoha... Please... Fate needs you..." Her beckoning stirred the female slightly. "Nanoha? Nanoha! Wake up!" She shook a little harder, tears brimming in her eyes. "Please!"

"Ar...fu...?" The word escaped her mouth slowly, eyes opening and looking around blindly. "Where am I?"

"In town," She told her, relieved that she was speaking. "Are you okay?"

"Sick," She replied, giving up her attempt to hold up her head and looked blankly up at the sky after letting herself fall back again. "He made me breathe something when he punched me...I think I'm poisoned... Can barely move."

Arf wiped her tears away from her eyes and scanned Nanoha's body as best as she knew how. "I think it's only a numbing poison... no wonder we couldn't see you breathing..."

"Nanoha!?" Fate's voice was shocked as she fell to her knees to cradle her lover. "But you... I mean... You was..." She ignored Arf's sad look at the blood covering her barrier jacket and instead fussed over the woman in her arms.

"I won't die from that," Nanoha told her while allowing her head to lean against Fate's body. "Mou, Fate, you think so little of me?" Tear drops fell on her cheek, shocking her. "Eh? Are you crying?" Ignoring her name being repeated, she spoke up again. "Wait, what happened to that man? Did you fight him? Are you okay?" Louder sobs answered her as she was slowly tilted to the side. "Fate? Fate?" Suddenly she found herself on the ground and heard pain filled cries next to her. "Fate!? What's wrong!? Arf, what's wrong with Fate!?"

"You idiot!" Arf was screaming as she lifted her master's shirt. "You shouldn't be moving! How did you get thi-..." Her words stopped suddenly, realizing that what she saw wasn't a trick on her eyes. "Fate you idiot! You _idiot!_" grabbing Bardiche from her, she brought up an M2D screen. "Hayate!? Yuuno!?" Signum answered her call but she cut off before she could say anything. "Fate's in danger, she may die soon!"

Suddenly Shamal's face was on the screen. "Can you bring her here!?"

"I-I don't think we should move her, she stabbed herself straight through her stomach!"

"_What_!?" Nanoha's voice drowned out the others, pleading as loud as she could around their conversation to get answers. "Fate? Where are you!?" She patted the ground around herself weakly until she found her lover's body and gripped her hand. "What happened!?" Fate only panted, looking up at the sky with a tired pain filled expression.

"Her adrenaline is wearing off," Arf noticed in worry. "Shamal please get here soon..."

* * *

"And they teleported here shortly after Fate left to get you," Yuuno was finishing up as they sat in the living room of their house. Thanks to the properties of the magic barrier their real home was unscathed from the battle earlier despite being destroyed within it. "The others got here not two minutes before you returned."

"Yuuno-kun," Nanoha whispered to him softly as she held onto him a little tighter. "Please tell me the truth... how is everyone?"

At first he wanted to lie to the scared girl but forced the feeling down as soon as it came. They knew each other too long, fought side by side more than enough to know how battles worked. If he lied she would know, and he didn't want her to worry about the people who were really okay. "The forwards are asleep right now. For the most part they are okay. Caro and Lutecia exhausted their cores to the point where they won't wake up but their bodies are in better shape than the others. Subaru has a little internal bleeding but will be fine in a week with the proper medicine. Elio got pretty banged up from what was apparently a close range blast... I think his face will scar lightly above his right eye."

"...You didn't say anything about Tia?"

"...Tia fractured her entire right hand, wrist, and arm all the way to her shoulder, which has severe muscle injury." He sighed softly. "She won't be able to use it for at least a month."

"She's going to miss the mage test," Nanoha looked down. "This is all my fault..."

"Don't even start thinking like that right now. There are more important things than some stupid test or you blaming yourself. You know that-"

"Pointing fingers won't solve any problems, I know, you've told me that before." With a sigh she leaned against him. "I'm sorry, I'm just trying to take my mind off Fate... How long has she been in there?"

Yuuno looked across the room towards the stairs. Shamal, not wanting to risk hurting Fate by teleporting, had to take up the operation right there in their house. "It's been almost an hour now. I don't know how long it will take but seeing as how this is a pure magical healing I wouldn't think much longer."

The pony tailed girl looked to the side despite seeing nothing but blackness wherever she turned. "She could get in a lot of trouble for this couldn't she?"

"More than you know." A new voice entered the room as Hayate nervously sat on the other side of Nanoha. "If anyone found out she would have her license revoked and probably serve jail time. The bill for restriction of magical healing was passed for a reason: If you mess up even slightly on internal organs or vital areas you could kill the person you are operating on or leave them permanently disfigured. What we went through when younger is highly looked down on now."

Yuuno nodded lightly. "Yeah, but right now we don't really have a choice do we?" To counteract his statement the upstairs door opened up to reveal a shaky looking Shamal. Instantly everyone ran over to her, including Nanoha who tripped over the couch and had to have Yuuno show her the rest of the way. "Well?" He asked timidly when she sat down on the steps with shaking hands.

"She's fine," Shamal eased their worries quickly. "She will have scars but she is fine..."

Hayate moved over and kneeled in front of the woman who doubled as her mother. "Are you okay? You look really pale."

Signum chose to answer for her partner while leaning over to pick her up since Shamal didn't look like she could walk anymore. "She's nervous. After an operation like that, who wouldn't be? Come on, Shamal, you need to rest."

"I want to see her." Nanoha's words were more of a command than a request. "Yuuno-kun, take me there please."

Yuuno shook his head and guided Nanoha back to the couch. "She needs to sleep, you know that." Although she didn't give him a response she still allowed herself to be sat down and returned to hugging his side for comfort when he joined her. "Nanoha, can you answer a few things for me?" He felt her nod and met Hayate's eyes for a little encouragement before he continued. "When you were attacked... Did you manage to talk to Skeith any?"

Nanoha gripped him tighter. "No... She wouldn't answer..." Slowly she buried her head against him. "She's gone."

Yuuno put his arm around his friend and thought hard. "Tri-Edge's data drain ability sucks not just magic but information and digital memory as well so it can effect devices too-" his words froze in his throat, eyes going wide. "That's it..._That's it!!_"

Hayate was startled at his sudden outbreak and in turn put her arm around Nanoha when she moved away from the suddenly excited man. "_What's_ it, Yuuno?" She watched him stand and start pacing, a sure sign he was on to something.

"Don't you _see_!?" He asked, amazed, while turning to walk in the other direction. "It's all about information! Data! Electric signals and Astral Flow!"

Nanoha blinked, moving from sad and worried to confused and annoyed. "Astral-what- now?"

Hayate answered before Yuuno could confuse her even more. "It's what we call loading cartridges, when the compressed energy moves into something besides the shell." Turning to look back to Yuuno she went on. "But what does that have to do with anything?"

"Data draining! Skeith!" He threw out his hands, smiling ear to ear. "It all makes sense now! We can beat them!"

This did perk Nanoha's true interest. "Wait, huh?"

"Hayate!" Yuuno moved over to her and looked down at the girl. "Remember our original plan for Skeith? What we were going to do before Fate talked her down?"

"Um... Yes, you made some type of device to..." Her words stalled slightly before gasping. "The unison device you made!"

"_What_ are you talking about!?" Nanoha finally cried out. "Someone tell me what's going on already!"

Yuuno sat by her again and took her hands. "Nanoha, when you were first controlled by Skeith, we made the discovery that she was a program. The Jewel Seeds were originally like our devices except they were meant to be worn as armor instead of used as weapons. This armor would allow people to use perfect AI to become the best warriors ever." he waited for a small nod to continue. "When we found out that we could remove Skeith's AI program from you and still leave the Jewel Seed grafted onto your body, I made a device to do that. Using Rein as a base, I created a type of gun that would literally suck all electronic data from something and put it into a unison device. We were going to use it to suck Skeith off you and then delete her information!"

Nanoha slowly caught on to his plan. "So you're saying we could use that to get Skeith off Tri-Edge?"

"Not only that..." Hayate ventured. "But if we timed it right, we could also take the Astral Flow with it?"

"Exactly!" Yuuno pointed at her. "Thus not only would Nanoha get Skeith and hopefully her vision back, but would also gain the power of a loaded Linker Core and give Tri-Edge mana burn in the process!"

"What are the odds of this working?" Signum asked as she walked into the room. "Sounds a little risky if you ask me."

Yuuno crunched the numbers in his head. "We would have to re-enforce the device and do a little altering to create a unison device for it to work..."

The short leader of the group put a hand to her chin and thought aloud. "True, the process of creating a Unison is extremely difficult... We were originally planning for it to fail to dispose of Skeith so we didn't really finish it properly..."

Nanoha panicked at their words. "So you're telling me this could possibly kill Aura!?"

"Aura?"

"Skeith's real name, I just don't use it much since I'm not used to it- wait that's not the point!" She shook her head. "No, no way, I can't kill her!"

"Whoa, Nanoha, calm down girl." Yuuno put his hands onto her shoulders. "Trust me; I'll make it work out. All right?"

Slowly she looked down and nodded. "Okay... Promise me she won't be hurt?"

"Promise." Yuuno got a confirming nod and turned to Hayate. "The device is on Mid-Childa, what should we do?"

"If the two were sent here today to kill us that means they probably wouldn't check in until they succeeded in doing so. Once their report was late and they couldn't be contacted I think, logically, that the people in charge would hold back to create a better plan on dealing with us... So I say we should have about a week or two before we have to worry about another attack."

"But if we went back to Mid-Childa we would cause attention to us..." Yuuno looked over at the redhead in the room. "But you, you're not supposed to be here, so if you return today no one would think twice about it..."

"Understood." Signum nodded over at him. "I can get the device and bring it back here. Once Shamal is rested we can head back and get what's needed from her offices."

"In the mean time," Yuuno kept talking to himself. "I'm going to start re-planning." Holding up his hand, he called forth his book-type device. "I'm going to have a long few nights ahead of me."

"Whoa!" Hayate stood up and grabbed the book. "You're injured! You need rest first!"

"Hayate, I'm fine."

"No you're not, your chest is almost bleeding through the bandages!"

"I'm a grown man, I can handle this!"

"I don't care, you are _not_ going to work on this until your body has had time to heal, or at the very least until Shamal can treat you a little! I command you to stay here and rest!"

"As a civilian collaborator, I don't have to take your orders." He reminded her

"I'm not telling you this as your superior, I'm telling you this as someone who cares about you deeply!"

Nanoha whistled out loudly when a sudden silence came around them. "I would have used the term 'friend', but apparently there's much more than that here."

"A-anyway!" Hayate stammered, turning red and looking away from everyone. "Yuuno, please rest for today. I'll help you tomorrow, okay?"

"...Fine." He looked away as well, slipping one hand into his front pocket and leaning a little to the side in a defeated pose. "But you have to rest too, you were beaten pretty badly."

"I had a barrier Jacket meant for combat, I'll be fine..." Her words trailed off, glancing over her shoulder at the man. "We should really equip you with a battle jacket instead of a normal one..."

Nanoha sighed out. "I want to get some sleep... Can one of you please get in touch with Arisa and Suzuka and let them know we're okay?"

"Ah," Signum nodded. "I'll get right on it."

* * *

"Tia?" Subaru's voice made the girl yelp softly in the semi-darkness of the night. "Sorry," She whispered softly as she made her way over to her. "I woke up and you wasn't there so I came looking."

"Idiot," Tia scolded her affectionately. "I could have just been in the bathroom."

"Mm, but after today I was worried..." The two held their breath when Nanoha rolled over on the couch and resumed her loud snoring. Arf's puppy form in turn walked around to reclaim her position on Nanoha's stomach and also went back to sleep. "Shamal-san really made her sleep on the couch?"

"She was just bruised and stunned, no real damage that couldn't be fixed by Yuuno-san's healing magic." Tia looked down at her arm and tried unsuccessfully to move her fingers. "Unlike me..." Sighing, she tried again to reach up and get a glass from the cabinet with her left hand. She found Subaru's hand quickly next to hers to stop a glass from tipping over and falling. "Dang it."

"Here, let me." Subaru got the glasses and filled them both up with milk before opening the cookie jar. "So," she whispered again, a little louder this time to be heard over the other girl's snores. "How is your arm? For real now that no one else is around?"

Tia bit into her milk-logged cookie and chewed before answering. "It hurts. A lot. Signum-san is supposed to be bringing me back some medicine from our planet to numb the pain. Right now I am torn between screaming out and ripping off my arm entirely."

"Eep... That bad?"

"Know the feeling when your nose bleeds and dries up?"

Subaru made a face. "And it's all scratchy and gritty and you can feel it when you breathe?"

"Mm. That's what my entire arm feels like... Yuuno-san told me I had hair-line cracks running all down it and into my hand. I can _feel_ it, it's really creepy." She had to pause her talking when Nanoha moved over onto her back and started what Fate had dubbed 'the chainsaw snoring'. "Good god, no wonder Hayate-san sound-proofed their walls."

"I just can't get over Nanoha-san actually doing what Shamal-san told her. She hasn't seen Fate-san since before her surgery."

"I can kind of understand, since she can't actually _see_ her you know? Even if she was in the room with Fate-san, it wouldn't help her any if she couldn't inspect to be sure she was okay. Speaking of, I heard Shamal-san used all magic healing?"

"You can't tell anyone." She got a small nod. "Yes, Fate will be perfectly fine tomorrow but will be weak and sore." The two finished up their late night snack and quietly made their way back to the room they shared. "Speaking of being okay and stuff, are you really fine? You're limping pretty bad."

"Mm," Subaru touched her side gently. "My stomach and ribs look horrible. Shamal-san and Yuuno-san had to do something to it but I'm not really sure what because they put me to sleep." She slowly got into bed and exhaled lightly in pain. "Come on, let's get some sleep." She felt Tia get next to her and the two looked up at the ceiling together a moment longer."I'd put my arm around you but I can't lean on my side." The small joke made Tia actually giggle out in the dark room.

"Ahhh, go to bed you idiot." they shared an awkward positioned goodnight kiss and slid deeper under the covers to get comfortable.

* * *

Nanoha slowly woke up and blinked her eyes a few times before remembering where she was. With a tender stretch to test her muscles she got off the couch and wiped her face with her hand. "Anyone up yet?" She inquired, greeted by silence. "Guess not," She spoke aloud again before heading towards the stairs by feeling around. Once at the wall she trailed her fingers along it until the hand rail was found and slowly walked up them once she got her bearings about where she was. Part of her wondered if it was even morning yet, making her request Raising Heart to give her the time. Now satisfied with hearing it was indeed morning and the sun was up, she felt her way to her bedroom. "You awake Sweetheart?" She asked the words timidly as she stuck her head in. Truth be told she shouldn't be bothering her right now but Shamal was no longer in the house so she had taken the chance to be with her fiancée. "Fate?"

"Mm," The blond replied from the bed. "Been awake for a while but my body doesn't really want to listen to me." She gave Nanoha a smile as she looked over at her. "Come here, just walk straight." Her lover did as she was told and reached out her hand to be taken once she was half way there. "A little more...there we are." Carefully she urged Nanoha onto the bed and hugged her. "You have no idea how happy I am right now."

"You have no idea how worried I was," Nanoha replied in turn. "How could you think I was dead? Couldn't you feel me?" The girl puffed out her cheeks in classic Nanoha style. "And then going and hurting yourself on top of that! If you wasn't injured I'd hit you!"

Fate's joy left instantly but she answered anyway, having planned what she was going to say ever since she woke up. "I'm sorry. I know I should have but... When I got to the forwards their battle was already over. After that I came here and saw Yuuno and Hayate already defeated. When I went to you, I just... I don't know, I panicked. I was already too late twice and you wasn't moving... I'm sorry." She let her head fall lightly and looked at the bed instead of at her fiancée.

"Fate... Will you answer a question for me? Something I have been wanting to ask since I found out you were okay?"

"Yes?"

"Did you really...?"

"...Yes." She closed her eyes sadly. "I snapped... I don't remember much of it...But enough."

"...Why?"

"You know why." Fate held her closer and almost started to cry. "Thinking that I lost you..."

"Fate," Slowly Nanoha pulled back. "Did you stab yourself to win?"

"...Yes."

"...Why?"

"Don't ask me that."

"Fate," Their words were repeating, trying to find some way to make this go about easier. "I'm very happy you are okay but...I'm disappointed at what happened."

"What do you mean?" Fate brought up her hand and gently touched it to Nanoha's, frowning sadly when the hand was removed from her reach slowly. "I disappointed you? How?"

"When something happens you are always the first to sacrifice. Not just here but back then..." She didn't have to say the words to imply that she was talking about that snowy day years ago. "And when we were fighting against Scaglietti... You never once thought about yourself."

"Of course not, Kitten, I was thinking of you..."

"I know that but... But it worries me. I worry about you." Moving her hand back, she touched Fate's and found her still willing to hold hands even after previously pulling away. "I have been thinking about this for a while now but I never found the time to talk to you about it... Fate, Darling, I think you have a problem."

"What do you mean? Nanoha this is really sudden, first thing in the morning, and I had a horrible night last night and-"

"I'm sorry. This can't wait." Nanoha took a breath. "Fate, I'm worried about our future together."

The words jarred Fate enough to cut off any other protest she would have. "Okay, I'm listening."

"I first noticed this when we were young." Moving slightly, she sat next to her fiancée and felt an arm being placed around her shoulders. "You would always come to me just to make sure I was all right. Even after simple things like long training, extra exercises, or even just simple missions. I remember you would always make me dinner, rub my back, make sure I was perfectly fine... but when you did them, you didn't do anything but sleep."

"I was tired," Fate offered, a little confused. "I don't really see where this is going."

"I'm sorry, I 'm not really explaining this properly." Nanoha took a breath and thought. "You have always relied on me for as long as I can remember. I don't mind, don't get me wrong, but it's gotten to a point where I'm worried about your well being...If I'm away, I worry so much about you it makes me sick." She chuckled to herself in light humor. "Poor Vita-chan always held my hair... That's not the point, though. What I'm getting at is I'm scared to leave you alone for a while because I'm worried you won't take care of yourself."

"... Sweetheart, I eat just fine and keep the apartment spic-and-span. Am I missing something?"

"No, no, it's...it's... oh I can't say it without being blunt."

"Be blunt, it's okay."

"Fate I'm worried about you if something should ever happen to me. I... really don't know what you will do. Whenever my life is threatened you always disregard your own in order to do something rash... Teleporting me to safety when that place was going to explode... Going Devil Trigger and impaling yourself to get even with someone who hurt me..."

"I love you, Nanoha, of course I would-"

"I love you too," She cut her off softly. "I learned the hard way that you would have to move on, when I thought you was dead. It's painful, so very, very, painful. Just thinking back on it almost drives me to tears...But I'm worried, if you was in that situation... what would you do?"

"I...I don't know... Nanoha... I know I'm a little too reliant on you...Just knowing you're there gives me all the confidence in the world, enough to actually take care of others as well." Fate looked over at the girl under her arm. "My decision to raise Elio, to get Caro transferred, to start healing Lutecia... But thinking if you were to ever not be there... It's too scary...I don't know what I'd do."

"Is it because of when we were little?"

"You saved me."

"You saved yourself, I just offered my hand." There was a small pause in the room. "Fate... Why do you love me?"

"What? Nanoha, where on Earth did that come from?"

"Answer me please?" She looked up towards the blond's face. "Is it because I was the one who helped you back on your feet?"

"No! No, no, at first maybe but no... Nanoha no. I love you because I love you. I'll admit that one part of our lives made me start seeing you but it was more, much more, that made me want to be with you... God, how long were you worried over this?"

"Just last night when I was thinking about all of what was going on."

Fate embraced Nanoha fondly. "Nanoha, I know I'm a little mentally off at times... I had a bad childhood and I cling to you because of it. I never knew it worried you like this, but for now on I'll try and be better."

"Promise?"

"Promise."

"No more impaling yourself when you think I'm hurt or dead?"

"Trust me, I never want to go through that again."

"No throwing your life away if I'm not there?"

"I won't. I will never do anything that upsets you purposely. But please understand that it will take time."

"I know...I know, Fate." The two gave each other another small squeeze before Nanoha found the slight tears in her eyes being kissed away. "Fate?" She got a soft hum. "Can we...Be together a little while?"

"... Yes." Ever so slowly she laid Nanoha back onto the bed and gently climbed on top of her. "I'm still a little sore so..."

"Me too...so be gentle okay?"

"I love you..." Leaning down, she kissed her fiancée softly.

* * *

"I'm back." Shamal greeted the house as she and Signum walked in through the front door with several suitcases. "How is everyone?"

Elio looked up from the couch and turned his left eye over towards them. "I'm okay, I suppose." Despite his words the patch covering his right eye said otherwise. "Caro-hime and Lulu haven't woken up yet." Hopping off the couch, he went over to help the two women pull in all the luggage. "Subaru and Tia are in their room watching the television I think."

"Hayate and Yuuno?" She pondered as they sat down what they were carrying on the living room table. "I have to go back to Mid-Childa shortly so I want to be sure everyone is okay first."

Elio thought about it. "I think I saw Yuuno-san and Hayate-san leave for breakfast this morning so I don't think they are home."

Shamal nodded to herself. "That only leaves the other two. Assuming they are awake since Nanoha isn't on the couch?"

"I heard them talking in their room so I didn't bother them."

Shamal thanked the boy and walked up the stairs to make her rounds before heading back home. The two Stars members were treated quickly with their follow up exam and given pills to take for the pain and suffering they were going through. Following along, she walked down the hall and raised her hand to knock on the door leading to the bunny couple's room. Just before her knuckles rapped against the wood she heard a repressed gasp and repeating of names. Normally she would simply blush and leave them be, obvious to what they were doing, but after just being treated she could only think one thing: They were going to hurt themselves.

The door opened quickly, startling the two girls apart and quickly covering themselves up. "Nanoha! Fate!" Shamal started in instantly. "You two almost _died_ yesterday! You should both be resting! I made Nanoha sleep on the couch for a reason you know! I expected more from you two! I _told_ you not to stress your bodies!" Looking over at Nanoha, she let loose again. "With your body being the way it's in, and Fate having to be healed magically, you should know better! Can I not leave you alone for ten hours without you going against what I told you to do?!"

Fate opened one eye and looked over at Nanoha sideways "_Ha ha, you're getting scolded_," She sent to her lover telepathically before Shamal turned on her as well and started going off about taking better care of herself.

A sudden laughing at the door made all three turn to look towards the noise. Subaru stopped giggling all at once and flushed all the color from her face. "Um, sorry" She told them lamely. "I was just passing by and...okay, I'm going now." Quickly she limped away from the door, huge smile still on her face. '_Oh man, I'm not going to forget this for a looooooong time._'

* * *

Yuuno: The device is taking a little longer than I thought it would, I will need another week at the earliest to finish it.

Nanoha: It can't be helped, you're going out of your way to ensure that we will be okay, after all.

Fate: Come on everyone, time for training!"

Subaru: I can barely move...

Caro: I don't think I can walk...

Elio: My body won't listen to me...

Nanoha: Come now, we can't slack off because we almost died, we need to prepare for the mage test!

Lutecia: Next time on Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha's 6th Division: Moving Toward Our Goal.

Hayate: Yuuno, there's something I want to talk to you about...

* * *

Author's Notes: Sometimes things don't work out the way you want them to. The entire ending with Nanoha and Fate was completely different in my first draft. I re-wrote all of it to better fit the story, that's why it took so long for this chapter. Speaking of, we're winding down to the end of Redemption. If you want to know about updates, progress, or anything else with me you can always check out the forums at animesuki dot com. Under the Nanoha Current series section, Nanoha forums, Nanoha Fanfiction thread. If you ever want to ask questions to me or other well known authors here, come drop us a line and talk a while. 


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